Trapped on Mount Vulcan
by Nicky4
Summary: As the Evergreen Forest prepares for another Fall Festival Bert and Lisa hike to the hot springs on Mount Vulcan. Unfortunately for everyone Cyril and Bentley's new waste disposal system gives the volcano indigestion. Trapping them all on Mount Vulcan.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The Raccoons and all associated characters are the property of Evergreen Raccoons Marketing and have been used without permission. Unless otherwise stated, any character not from the Raccoons television series is mine but may be used if requested. The following is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. This work is solely for the entertainment of the author and his readers and no money is either being or to be made from this work.

The Raccoons

Trapped on Mount Vulcan

Bert Raccoon stood in front of the bathroom sink with a towel wrapped around his waist as he wiped some condensation off the bathroom mirror. He looked in the mirror examining the black fur around his eyes trying to make sure there was no crust or other embarrassing fluids. Once satisfied he was presentable he donned one of his trademark red sweaters with a yellow letter B on the front and undid the towel from his waist rehanging it on its hook so poorly on the rack that it immediately fell to the floor.

Bert did not have time to worry about such mundane matters such as picking up his things today. He was very close to being late to pick up his friend Lisa for their hike to the top of Mount Vulcan the local dormant volcano that had numerous warm and hot springs near the summit. It was also jokingly referred to as the location where half the Evergreen Forest's population got their start though that may have been a slight exaggeration.

He checked his room one last time making sure he had packed everything he would need for the trip. Once sure this was the case he grabbed his backpack that he had, uncharacteristically for him, packed the night before fully expecting to be running late this morning.

"Goodbye Melissa, Goodbye Ralph!" he yelled out to his house mates as he bounded down the stairs leaping every second one.

"Goodness Bert," Melissa said as he steamed past her, nearly knocking her down, "where are you off to in such a hurry?"

Bert stopped and faced Melissa, "Lisa and I are hiking to the summit of Mount Vulcan for the weekend." Bert flushed a little under his fur. There were many reasons for going up to the springs but everyone would assume couples went up there for one big reason.

Melissa understood this as well she and her husband Ralph had gone up there more than a couple times. "Oh, so that explains your enthusiasm. Well have, fun, up there you two," Melissa teased, emphasizing the word fun.

"We will Melissa," Bert said as he practically jumped through the door closing it behind him.

###

Down the road a bit from the raccoondomium Lisa Raccoon was also getting ready for her trip. She was just finishing up packing her backpack when her mother came to the door of her bedroom.

"Are you ready to go Lisa dear?"

"Almost mom. I just have to pack a few more things," she said as she continued packing.

"It is a shame you two will not be here for the fall festival."

"After last year, Bert wanted to be as far away from it as possible." Lisa finished packing and put on her backpack. She turned to face her mother, "Have you ever been up to the hot springs on Mount Vulcan, mom?"

"Once, it is very beautiful up there and there are lots of hot springs. I'm sure you will love it. I remember when your father took me up up there. It was so romantic." Nicole went a little blurry eyed at the memory.

"Do I want to hear this?" Lisa was almost certain she didn't.

"We spent the entire time..." Nicole trailed off, "well let's put it this way we came back with you, though we did not know it for a couple months."

"I did not want to hear that."

"I can tell you the spot where I think it happened."

A knock at the door indicated Bert had arrived and Lisa decided to make her escape lest she discover something she did not want to know, ever. "Gotta go mom, Bert's here. Tell dad I love him, tell Bentley... well tell dad I love him."

"I will tell Bentley you at least thought of him." Nicole said as Lisa meet Bert. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and they began their hike. After they had left Nicole clasped her hands together, "My baby is going home to spawn."

###

Bentley Raccoon stood in front of a presentation screen discussing his, and Cyril Sneer's, latest get rich quick scheme. At one side of the conference room table sat Cyril Sneer his son Cedric and Cyril's three hench pigs. Bentley did not know their names and never cared to ask not that anyone else in the Evergreen Forest did either. On the other side of the table were three military officers. The first was a formidable looking bulldog who looked every inch the general that he was. The second was a poodle who, the uniform aside, looked every bit not a military officer as the bulldog looked. The third officer was obviously ranked lower than the other two as he seemed to be carrying their things and providing for their upkeep.

Bentley clicked the button on the slide projector remote advancing the last slide ending his portion of the presentation. "In conclusion the Sneer waste disposal system will provide you with an efficient and effective means of disposal of highly regulated waste. Our unique system injects such matter into a magma chamber and allows the heat and pressure inside the volcano to safely break down toxic materials and whisk it away using natural convection currents. Are there any questions?"

One of the pigs flipped the light switch from dim to full temporarily blinding all the inhabitants of the room. The bulldog general spoke, "I don't think we have any questions after that presentation but can we see it in action?"

"Of course you can, general Cuddle." Cyril said as he stood from his chair.

"It's Cuddel. With a long U sound." the general said gruffly he did not like that his name was so often confused with cuddle.

"Of course general," Cyril gulped hoping that his faux pas would not derail the deal, "we'd be happy to give you a demonstration."

The attendees filed out from the conference room to the factory floor. Where a very large electromagnetic rail gun burrowed into the floor. Around it were, in military precision, neat rows and stacks hundreds of what looked like bombs or missile warheads. "As you can see, general," Cyril started his pitch again, "my employees have the situation well in hand. We'll take care of your, uh, want exactly are these things?"

"Chemical weapons." The bulldog general stated matter of factly causing the three pigs who had taken to leaning against the shells to squeal in terror and scurry away. "We can't use them anymore because of the liberals."

Cyril harrumphed, "My tax dollars at work," as he knocked on the top of one shell with his fist. The poodle officer shook his head silently as an indication that was not something he should do. Realizing what he was banging on caused Cyril to pull back fearfully.

Bentley for his part showed little interest in the shells and warheads. His interest lay in the computer that controlled the rail gun. Bentley began the next part of the presentation, "The Sneer waste disposal system utilizes a high velocity rail gun as seen over there to inject a projectile into the magma chamber deep below the ground. There high pressure and heat break down the chemical compounds rendering the waste products inert and they are carried to the center of the Earth. We are going to do a test firing by sending down a scientific Pipeline Instrumentation Gauge or PIG for short."

The pigs were placing a scientific probe into a metallic tube and placed that into the cradle of the rail gun closing the cover last. The pigs stepped away from the rail gun and gave Bentley a thumbs up sign. "Please mind anything made of metal." Bentley said as he prepped the electromagnetic rail gun to fire.

The rail gun was powered by its own separate generator that was in turn powered by a large diesel motor. The motor was definitely not on the quiet side and the officers, the Sneers and the pigs all covered their ears. No doubt they were breaking some sort of safety law but the generator motor would only be on for a short time and it wasn't worth it to put in earplugs.

When the rail gun was fully charged Bentley pressed the trigger button and it made a loud popping sound. The cradle of the rail gun was now empty. Bentley, Cyril and their guests watched the computer monitor as the PIG sent back data. Eventually the data flow stopped indicating the PIG had been destroyed under the heat and pressure of the magma chamber. "And that is all it takes to safely dispose of your waste."

"That's amazing how did you come up with this?" the bulldog general asked.

Cyril answered, "We were contacted by Evergreen University's department of geology. They wanted to drill into the volcano's magma chamber and we were interested in disposing of toxic waste that didn't involve dumping it in the local fishing hole." Cyril aimed that barb right at the pigs. Who tried to hide in shame. "After the local university collected their scientific data we got the go ahead to use this as a method of disposing of regulated waste. It is a win win situation for all involved general." Cyril spoke up as the officers watched the computer.

"Can you do this with anything?" The bulldog general asked.

"Theoretically yes. We can't do it with nuclear waste because we are not permitted to handle it. As for general garbage this method would be too expensive compared to existing options. However, there is no reason either of those could be done if certain conditions were met." Cyril was going all out to sell the business.

"Well if you can dispose of this we can undoubtedly get the top brass to send you more." The bulldog general said as he straightened himself up. "Sanders, let's get going I want to be back at base to start the holiday weekend." The two other officers snapped to attention, saluted and followed their commanding officer.

Cyril rubbed his hands together, "This is great! A government contract will allow me to get back some of that tax money I keep having to pay out every year."

"Plus it's good for the environment." Cedric pointed out the main selling point to the general public.

"I only care about my financial environment, Cedric." Cyril said to his son. "But for now we can take the rest of the weekend off."

"Oh boy!" the first pig exclaimed with joy, "a three day weekend."

"We can go to the Fall Festival now." the second pig chimed in.

"And relax in the sun," the third pig intoned.

All three pigs now complete with sunglasses, beach umbrellas and coolers march towards the door until they bumped into Cyril. "Where do you three ham hocks think you're going?"

"Vacation?" the three pigs collectively shuddered.

"BZZZTT! Wrong answer!" Cyril shouted imitating a game show buzzer. "You three are going to dispose of those bombs and I don't want you leaving until they are gone!"

"But, but, but, that will take all weekend!" pig two said dropping the beach umbrella he was carrying.

"No buts. I want this factory clean by Tuesday when you start the new workweek!" Cyril stormed out leaving the pigs to themselves.

"Oh rats!" pig one shouted as he threw down his sunglasses, "Now we'll never get to go to the fall festival."

"I have an idea. Let's put them in two at a time. Then it will only take half the time to finish." Pig two said. Offering what should have been considered a stupid idea.

"If we put three in at a time we can do it all in one day." pig three followed up.

"Great idea! We can finish early, clean the factory and the boss will never be the wiser." Pig one said.

"The boss might even give us a raise." pig two said as all three of the pigs began loading up the bombs in the rail gun's carriage. In anticipation of Cyril's praise and a raise.

Outside the factory Cyril, Cedric and Bentley gathered at the entranceway to the factory. The trio were quite pleased that the demonstration went well and that the customers were happy. "You two enjoy the weekend. I'm going to go over my books." Cyril's idea of books were his accounting books not reading for pleasure.

"Are you sure you don't want us to help with the disposal, pop?" Cedric asked ever mindful of the pigs untrustworthiness.

"No, you two deserve a break. Those three porkers can handle it." Cyril walked off.

"Well Bentley looks like we have the weekend off. I'll see you at the festival."

"Sure Cedric, I'll go get Bert and we can go to the festival together." Bentley ran off towards the raccoondominium.

"But Bentley," Cedric started to say but Bentley ran out of earshot, "Bert's not going to be there."

###

The Evergreen Forest's five member town council and the town mayor, Lady Baden-Baden, sat behind a table on a raised platform. A few of town's citizens were in the gallery including Schaeffer who was the proprietor of the Blue Spruce Café and the head of the town's civil defense committee. The speaker who who was currently presenting to the council was a diminutive squirrel wearing a suit who was with the Homeland Security Department and was attempting to get the town to improve its civil defense forces. The squirrel spoke in a fast high pitched voice that frequently went squeaky as he told the skeptical town council of the dangers posed by terrorists. "You must understand how important it is to implement the government's anti-terrorist measures."

"Why would terrorists want to attack our tiny town?" Lady Baden-Baden asked still skeptical that the town would be any safer after doing these expensive measures.

"Terrorists could be anywhere! They hate freedom and pervert their religion, which is a good and peaceful religion!" The diminutive squirrel ran around the room checking behind flags, under chairs and in potted plants.

In fact he was checking underneath Schaeffer who was by now asleep when Lady Baden-Baden said, "Mr. Bushytail, I fail to see how we can afford all of this. It simply is not something we can pay for."

The excited squirrel looked back from under Schaeffer who had just now woken up and wondered what was going on. "Implementing HSD's security plans comes with a federal grant to cover the costs!"

The prospect of getting federal money appealed to the town council and the mayor. "Schaeffer, can you come here?" Lady Baden-Baden asked. Schaeffer complied and went up to the platform to huddle with the town council. "Schaeffer," Lady Baden-Baden began, "we really need that federal grant money."

"For what Lady Baden-Baden? We aren't a target for terrorists it would just be wasted money." Schaeffer said.

"Because we can take the grant buy some cheap used anti terrorist equipment grab some old retired veterans who want to play soldier again to use it and the rest of the money we can use for town improvements, like expanding the water and sewer lines to the Blue Spruce Café."

Schaeffer had been trying to get the town water and sewer lines extended for some time now liked this idea, "OK I'm in." The group broke their huddle and the town council took their seats again.

Lady Baden-Baden spoke, "All those in favor of accepting the Homeland Security grant please say, Aye." The five council members voted Aye. "Those opposed say, Nay." Nothing was said. "The Ayes have it. Schaeffer you will be working with Mr. Bushytail."

Schaeffer extended his hand, "I look forward to working with you Mr..."

"Bushytail, George W. Bushytail, we'll get started right away! Those terrorists won't know what hit them. They hate freedom you know? I'll get my things we'll have quite a weekend!" George W. Bushytail exclaimed to Schaeffer as he made his way to the town hall exit. Glimpsing a potted plant the excitable squirrel jumped up with a bristled tail and exclaimed, "Terrorists!"

"This is going to be a long weekend." Schaeffer said as he shook his head.

###

Bentley bounded up to the raccoondominium calling out Bert's name, "Hey Bert! come on let's go to the Fall Festival! Bert!"

"Bentley what are you doing here?" Bentley's mother Nicole asked as she came out of the raccoondominium holding various cooking and food items.

"I'm looking for Bert. Isn't he up yet?"

"Bert's not here, Bentley." Melissa answered as she exited the raccoondominium also holding cooking and food items.

"He's already at the festival I bet, setting up the fireworks, I'll go help him."

"Bentley, he is not at the festival. He went up to the hot springs on Mount Vulcan with Lisa and they will be up there all weekend." His mother told him the bad news.

Bentley looked crestfallen his best friend was Bert and to not be able to spend the last weekend of summer with him was devastating to the young raccoon. "Oh I thought that we could spend the weekend together."

Nicole spoke again, "Well you cannot. They have already left."

"But if you want you can take care of Broo for the weekend. That would be big help for us." Melissa said to her nephew as she and Nicole walked past. "Ralph and I are going to be helping with your father's booth at the festival and won't be able to let him out during the day."

"Yeah, OK, Aunt Melissa." Bentley did not mind taking care of Broo but he was still disappointed that Bert was not going to be around for the weekend.

###

The Evergreen Forest's fairgrounds was the main hub of activity for the town today. Not surprisingly many business had either closed for the day or cut back their staffing; though their employees were now setting up booths, hanging banners, cooking or any number of other tasks. The smell of food cooking permeated the area and the area was a riot of sounds, hammering, sawing, the occasional swearing when a thumb got in the way of a hammer.

Ralph and George Raccoon tended to a BBQ pit cooking ribs as they drank beers. George would occasionally pour some onto the burning wood to add extra flavor the smoke. He was also brushing his supper secret sauce, available for purchase from his TV show, over a rack of ribs. "I sure do love slapping sauce on my meat." George said as he brushed Bar-B-Que sauce over the ribs. To the right of the Bar-B-Que pit George's younger brother Ralph sat on a pile of firewood.

Ralph rolled his eyes, "do all chefs say things like that when they cook?"

"Pretty much."

At that time Bentley wandered up to George's booth and sat down dejected. "Hey Bentley, what's up?" George asked his son.

"Nothing is. Bert went up to some hot springs with Lisa." Bentley kicked at a rock. "What fun could he possibly have up there with Lisa?" Bentley got up and wandered off leaving Ralph and George to themselves.

Ralph looked to George with a beer can to his lips, "you haven't told him about the birds and the bees yet have you?"

"I was hoping he would learn it at school or from his friends."

"George."

"I'll tell him, I'll tell him." George took a drink and poked at the ribs on the grill as he said, "someday," to himself.

###

General Cuddel signed the last few papers on his desk and stretched. He dropped the papers into his out box then walked over to the look out the blinds covering his office window. There were very few soldiers on base right now; the work week was over and the long weekend was about to begin. Or at least that is what he thought.

"Sir, we have a broken arrow." The poodle officer informed the bulldog general.

"What do you mean we have a broken arrow?" The general's brow furrowed.

"One of our tactical nuclear warheads is missing out of inventory." The poodle's voice quivered.

"Well find it! It can't just have gotten up and walked away! Cancel all leave for anyone still on base who has access to the nuclear bunker. I want every bit of dirt examined!"

"Yes sir!" The poodle saluted.

The general sat down at his desk. This was one of the worst things that could have happened. A broken arrow, the code for a missing nuclear weapon. He wanted to believe it was just a case of someone forgetting to enter a number on a piece of paper but he was an old veteran and knew that he had to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. "This is going to be a long weekend." The bulldog said as he shook his head.

A few hours later the poodle officer again entered the bulldog general's office. "Sir we have figured out what happened to the warhead."

"Go on."

"The warhead was accidentally mixed in with the shipment of chemical weapons that were sent for disposal."

"Accidentally sent with the chemical weapons?" The bulldog general asked in a very calm voice but it was plain he was keeping his rage suppressed.

"Yes sir," the poodle swallowed.

The general breathed out audibly, "Good, I'll call Cyril Sneer and have the weapon put aside and we can pick it up." The general picked up the phone and dialed.

###

Cyril sat at his desk in his home office going over his books grumbling to himself about taxes and government regulations. His Bluepoint Ridgeback Retriever, Snag, slept soundly next to the desk.

Snag woke with a start and looked around the room he began growling, barking and ended up scratching at the door as if he wanted to be let out.

"You stupid dog what is wrong now?" Cyril got up from his desk and angrily booted Snag out the office door.

Cyril grumbled as he returned to his desk where the telephone began ringing. "Hello."

"Mr. Sneer, it's General Cuddel."

"Ah General!" Cyril oozed, "what can I do for you?"

"I'd like for you to set aside one of the weapons that we shipped to you. It is lot number 166232474-DX."

"Yes of course I can but why? We have already begun disposal." Cyril said as he wrote down the number.

"Mr. Sneer it is imperative that you stop and isolate that lot number because it is a small nuclear weapon." The general sensed Cyril was not getting the urgency of the matter and decided to drop that bit of information.

Cyril nearly dropped the phone, "Of course general. I'll put a stop to it right away." Cyril hung up the phone and raced out of his office at all speed.

###

Bentley stood outside the raccoondominium watching Broo who was taking his time sniffing around at various trees. "C'mon Broo, hurry up. How long can it take to pick out a tree?" It's easy just pick one and..." Out of no where Bentley heard a sound that made him cringe and his fur stand on end.

"Hiiiiiiiiiii Bentleeeeeey!" the voice of a young girl raccoon called out.

"Ahh!" Bentley screamed shocked by the sudden intrusion, "What do you want Annie?" he said to the girl who was wearing blue overalls and a long sleeved striped shirt.

The girl raccoon was pleased that Bentley had acknowledged her and flashed Bentley a toothy grin. "I was wondering if you, uh, might, uh, be..."

While Annie was stammering out her question Broo started growling then ran off barking, "Broo, Broo! Where are you going?" Bentley disregarded the girl and chased after Broo.

"Bentley wait!" Annie called out as she ran after him.

Bentley finally caught up with Broo in the middle of a meadow where he was crouched down as if afraid of something. "Come on Broo you have to go back to the racccoondominium." Bentley grabbed at Broo's collar but the stubborn puppy refused to budge. "What's wrong with you Broo? I didn't bring your leash so you had better come along." Bentley tried using more force and Broo growled menacingly at him. "OK, That's weird." Bentley wisely pulled his hand back.

"What's weird?" Annie asked from behind Bentley almost out of breath.

"Broo has never acted like this before. He won't even come when I call him."

"If I can get him to come to me will you, uh, go to the dance tonight with me?"

"Heh, If you get that dog to move, sure, you'll deserve it."

"Come here Broo."she patted at her knees to call the puppy.

Broo immediately came to heel. Bentley slapped his palm against his face in disbelief. Not only was Broo back to normal but he was forced into going to the dance with Annie how could one raccoon be so unlucky? Bentley's luck was soon to turn far worse.

###

Far away from the town of Evergreen Forest Bert and Lisa turned back to look at where they had come from. The main forest was mostly pine but area around the local hot springs allowed for a wider array of other vegetation to take root and thrive because of longer growing periods than the rest of the forest. Soft grasses carpeted various areas where sunlight was able to penetrate the fir tree canopy and wild berries and even some wild grape arbors were able to thrive even in the high elevation. Needless to say the mountain was a veritable Eden of fruits and natural beauty.

"Oh Bert you can see the entire forest from up here it's so beautiful." Lisa said to Bert as she surveyed the entire forest.

"Yeah beautiful." Bert responded though his eyes were not on the Evergreen Forest.

"I can't believe this place hasn't been developed. Hot springs are usually a huge tourist draw and the view from up here is magnificent." Lisa said as she thumbed at the straps of her backpack.

"There have been plans to put hotels up here but the volcano is owned by the federal government and there are so many conflicting ownership claims that the mountain is landlocked. Technically we were trespassing on several peoples' property though most of the landowners don't care as long as you don't damage anything." Bert told Lisa though she probably did not care why the place was not developed. "We should be able to see the fireworks from up here though we won't hear any of the booms."

"Well maybe we won't have to worry about the town's fireworks if we make our own." Lisa joked as she brushed past on her way to the springs. The swishing of her tail gave a subtle hint to her innuendo. Bert caught her meaning as he too turned to follow Lisa up the path to the hot springs.

###

Cyril was not one who normally took the time to drive himself at least not when he had one or all of his three pigs to chauffeur him around. The pigs were, however, about to blow up the Evergreen Forest and he did not have time to find one of his bear employees to drive him. In fact he did not have time to obey reasonable speed limits for that matter as he tore down the mostly dirt roads between Sneer Mansion and the factory.

The main roads into town were packed with traffic making its way to the Fall Festival so Cyril had to make due with the back roads. Anger and terror boiled inside of him as he imagined the pigs accidentally setting off the atomic bomb. Cyril was determined to stop them. Blowing up the town and everyone in it would definitely be bad for business.

Cyril made it to the factory in near record time feverishly hoping he would be able to stop the pigs. He slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop shifting the transmission into park but not even bothering to shut off the engine. Bursting through the door and waving his hands he shouted, "Stop!"

Pigs two and three were loading the last of the containers into the railgun's cradle. Pig one was at the controls. "What did the boss say?" Pig three asked shouting over the loud rumble of the electromagnet's generator and the earplugs all three pigs were wearing.

"That he wants us to finish our jobs!" Pig two shouted back.

"We're about to finish this off and the boss will be so impressed we're definitely going to get a big raise!" Pig one said as he put his finger to the button. Not even noticing Cyril's sprint across the factory and his vehement attempts to get their attention. "Here goes."

"NOOOOOOOO!" Cyril shouted as Pig one pushed the button.

To Be Continued


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The Raccoons and all associated characters are the property of Evergreen Raccoons Marketing and have been used without permission. Unless otherwise stated, any character not from the Raccoons television series is mine but may be used if requested. The following is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. This work is solely for the entertainment of the author and his readers and no money is either being or to be made from this work.

The Raccoons

Trapped on Mount Vulcan

Chapter 2

"I can't believe you three porkers finished that entire job in one day!" Cyril fumed in anger at the three pigs. He also could not believe that they had destroyed the nuclear bomb he was supposed to hold for the general.

"We can't believe it either." Pig two said, puffed up with pride in what they had accomplished.

"You dimwitted bacon bits! You could have blown up the whole forest one of those bombs was nuclear!" Cyril ground his teeth and pulled his hair in annoyance. For once the pigs showed some initiative and done something ahead of schedule. Naturally it had to be the one time their laziness would have been beneficial.

The pigs squealed in terror at the thought of having handled a nuclear bomb, chemical weapons were bad enough.

"I'm calling Bentley maybe he will have a way out of this mess you three got me into."

###

Bentley weaved in between tourists and ducked between the festival booths hoping to stay out of sight of Annie. He had for the past few hours been trying to hide from her and unfortunately she seemed to have a sixth sense as to where he was and had the ability to stay on his tail like, well, his tail. Bentley was contemplating changing his deodorant to throw her off his scent when his cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Bentley, it's Cyril, we've got a problem."

No kidding he said to himself then answered, "what's the problem Mr. Sneer?"

Over the noise of the crowd attending the fall festival the sound of a boy could be heard screaming, "THEY WHAT!"

###

Schaeffer stood with a clip board as George W. Bushytail marched back in forth in front of the Evergreen Forest's Civil defense force. The five ancient dogs stood at attention in their old military uniforms. Four of the old dogs were droopy looking dogs of indeterminate ancestry in Canadian army uniforms the last one was a german shepard in a German army uniform complete with a coal bucket helmet with a spike on top.

"You are the finest, the most robust, the ones your community will look to to guide them through times of trial and..." George W. Bushytail finally got a good look at the men Schaeffer had gathered. He motioned to Schaeffer who bent down to listen. "Are these the town's best men?"

"Well, they were the ones who were willing to do this." Schaeffer answered.

George W. Bushytail walked in front of the men, "These men look like they fought the Kaiser; this one looks like he fought for the Kaiser!"

"It iz true." The old german shepard said proudly.

George W. Bushytail slapped his hand against his forehead. No one in this town seemed to take civil defense seriously. He hoped that the town's civil defense purchases would be more up to date than its manpower. "This is the town's civil defense stockpile!" Arrayed on the table was what looked like an ancient machine gun, some surgical masks and several rolls of duct tape and plastic sheets.

"We got this stuff cheap, Bushytail. You know, our town's, fiscal conservatism, and all." Schaeffer said dismissively after all what need was there for anti terrorist equipment in a small town like the Evergreen Forest?

"This machine gun looks like it is from World War One!"

"I think it is an Austro-Hungarian design." Schaeffer said scratching the back of his head with his clipboard.

"That iz korrect, zir!" the old german sheapard barked out as he gave an out of place salute that had the immediate effect of toppling over his fellow soldiers some of whom coughed up their dentures.

"What are you going to do with duct tape and plastic?"

"We got the economy plan, Bushytail. Relax everything will work out just fine. Now let's set up our booth and hand out our brochures" Schaeffer began unpacking some boxes.

###

In the Evergreen seismic research station a lone raccoon was monitoring the equipment. The station had to be manned at all times and this researcher volunteered for the entire weekend. As much as his coworkers admired his selfless act for the long weekend his motives were less than honorable. His mother-in-law was in town and and he had no desire to spend the long weekend with her, his wife and his three teen-aged daughters all of whom would make his life a living hell.

Instead he twirled about in his swivel chair listening to one of his daughter's confiscated MP3 player. He would never tell her he actually liked the songs she listened to because it would embarrass her to no end.

He scooted over to check the seismograph for anything unusual and much to his surprise he found it. A small earthquake had occurred so small it was unlikely anyone even noticed it. Every so often small earthquakes did occur but this one was slightly larger and more unusual than the normal ones that occurred in the area.

He turned down the MP3 player and dialed another nearby seismic monitoring station he knew he would need three to pinpoint the exact location of the earthquake and even more to place it exactly.

"John, it's Michael over at the Evergreen station how are you?" He waited for the response then began again, " Could you check on something for me I have what I think is an earthquake around 13:11 can you verify?" Michael tapped a pen against his teeth as he waited for the other researcher. "Yes, a small one maybe 2.5 max. Great thank you I'll confirm it with Jim in the Pine Bay station and we'll see where the epicenter is." Michael hung up the phone and dialed again.

After speaking with the engineer at the other station Michael had the epicenter of the quake. It was a small quake only a 2.3 on the Richter Scale but it was located almost directly under Mount Vulcan in the Evergreen Forest. It was not unusual for volcanoes, even dormant ones like Mount Vulcan, to create earthquakes but Michael determined this to be a newsworthy event and he called up the Evergreen Standard's main phone line.

###

At the Fall festival Ralph Raccoon and his wife Melissa had taken a break from helping at George's booth. Melissa was carrying a small feral raccoon plush that Ralph had won at a shooting game. The couple walked hand in hand enjoying finally having a moment to themselves when Ralph's cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Ralph said into the phone slightly annoyed at having his moment interrupted.

"Hi Ralph, it's Michael Bridges at the seismic research station how are you?"

"Oh OK I guess. What do you need?"

"I just wanted to let you know that an earthquake happened almost directly underneath Mount Vulcan today at 1:11. It measured 2.3 on the Richter Scale and there have been numerous small aftershocks."

Ralph mentally recorded the facts and figures then said his goodbyes. He would do the write up later tonight and run the paper. "Sorry about that, Melissa," he said to his wife.

"What was all that about?" Melissa asked.

"Someone from the research center telling me about an earthquake underneath Mount Vulcan."

Melissa hugged the stuffed raccoon Ralph had won her, "What earthquake? I didn't feel anything."

"It was a small one, nothing to worry about. Let's just enjoy the festival or at least what we can of it." Ralph reassured Melissa by putting an arm around her waist.

###

Far bellow Ralph and Melissa the magma chamber of the volcano was filling with lava. The nuclear bomb had detonated at exactly 1:11 local time just as it cleared the bore hole of the waste disposal plant. The pigs' foolish decision to stack the canisters triggered a countdown mechanism within the bomb. Had they only sent one canister down at a time the electromagnet's pulse would have fried every circuit in the bomb rendering it inert but their stacking allowed the timer to reset and the countdown to start. Had the countdown reset to a shorter time the bomb would have exploded in the bore hole and the resulting backlash would have microwaved the pigs' bacon. Had the countdown reset to a slightly longer time the bomb would have hit the magma and dissolved with barely a whimper. Instead it hit the Goldilocks zone, just right.

Mount Vulcan had become dormant when the inflow and outflow of magma reached a point of equilibrium over four hundred years ago. Hot magma from the mantel of the planet came up following one pipe and as it cooled it went down a second pipe back towards the planet's mantel. Creating a very stable system.

The resulting explosion not only caused the seismic monitoring centers to pick up the vibrations but it dislodged lose rock. That rock effectively blocked the outflow of magma from the magma chamber upsetting a delicate balance and starting the volcano on a road to eruption. This would have happened at some point in the future but the bomb knocked the rock lose early. That lose rock covered over most of the pipe that carried magma away from the surface now until that obstruction was cleared it had nowhere to go but up. And up it was going slowly filling the magma chamber with molten rock.

###

Bentley arrived at the waste disposal facility at the same time Cedric got there. "Bentley what happened?" Cedric asked the young raccoon.

"I hope it is something other than what your father called me about."

Both Cedric and Bentley entered the factory. " Pop what's going on?" Cedric asked still not believing what he had heard.

"These three nincompoops tried to blow up the whole forest!" Cyril indicated at the pigs. "They dropped an atomic bomb down that thing!"

"I knew this wouldn't be a good idea." Cedric felt light headed when he heard again at what had happened.

"Relax," Bentley said, "Atomic weapons don't just explode. They have to go though a whole series of procedures to arm them. There is no way the pigs could have blown up anything and besides the electromagnetic pulse from the rail gun would have fried the circuitry of the bomb making it useless."

"Pop, why did the Army send us an atomic bomb? That's a violation of our contract."

"How should I know Cedric? They called wanting us to set it aside so it must have been accidentally sent and these three flushed it. " Cyril buried his head in his hands he could not believe this was happening.

"We were just trying to finish our work boss."

"How did you do it so quickly? It should have taken at least three days to clean out this entire building." Bentley asked.

"We decided to send them down two at a time then we figured three would be better.." Pig one said.

"Once we figured three was good we put in six." Pig three piped up.

Bentley's eye began to twitch. He looked to Cyril who was still shaking his head in disbelief then to Cedric who looked horrified. "Cedric, can I, talk to you?" Bentley led Cedric away from the others. "If the pigs sent down six at a time, and put the nuke furthest down from the rail gun, it's possible they could have triggered a nuclear detonation."

"Oh my..." Cedric began.

"Don't panic."

"The puddle is a dead giveaway."

"It's obvious the bomb didn't detonate or we'd all be getting fitted for wings and harp lessons. No one needs to know about this. Everyone here has to never speak of this to anyone. The Army won't be in any hurry to publicize a nuclear bomb being lost so we should be able to avoid any unnecessary unpleasantness. This will all just blow over after a while."

"I hope you're right Bentley." Cedric said unconvinced.

###

Bentley, Cyril and Cedric all waited for the general and his men to arrive. By now all three had decided to play innocent, deny they had done anything wrong and blame the pigs if the situation required it. In truth they were innocent of any wrong doing in regards to the destruction of what should never have been given to them but in the world of bureaucracy cover your butt was a polite way of putting things.

General Cuddel, and his entourage arrived at Sneer Industries waste disposal plant number 1 with tires screeching. What was left of the general's division piled out of the truck and ran into the factory.

"Mr. Sneer, I trust you have my weapon."

"Um, well..." Cyril began he looked down at the floor too afraid to answer. The general's expression darkened considerably.

The general then looked around the empty factory as if in shock, "I must say I am surprised you finished so quickly.

"Believe me we were just as surprised," Cyril said quietly.

Bentley decided someone had to step in, "I'm afraid, general, that your bomb has been disposed of."

"Well get it back. I can't explain how sensitive material can just be lost like this."

"General there is no way to get it back it was injected into a volcano. It's probably halfway to the center of the Earth." Bentley exaggerated the speed at which the disposed material would be transferred.

This did not sit well with the general, "Then I need proof it was destroyed. Do you have any idea what would happen if word got out that nuclear material is missing? We'd have every conspiracy nut making up stories."

"Oh, I love Coast to Coast." Pig three said unhelpfully only to be elbowed by both of his brothers to shut up.

Bentley snapped his fingers, "We can send down a PIG."

"I say we send down three of them." Cyril said gruffly looking at the three pigs who squealed in terror.

I mean the Pipeline Instrumentation Gauge." Bentley said causing the pigs to calm down, slightly. "We can do a radiation check to see if there is an increase in radioactivity. That would indicate the bomb was destroyed."

The pigs readied one of the Pipeline Instrumentation Gauges for firing. "Put the PIG in." Bentley said as he prepped the rail gun for firing. The generator began to cycle up to full power and soon was ready to fire.

Bentley pressed the button but kept his eyes on the data from the PIG. "It should be at the end of the pipeline about, now." Less than a second later the computer only received errors indicating the PIG had been destroyed Bentley looked somewhat shocked he had expected it to last a few seconds longer but he now had what he needed. "There is a slight increase in background radiation against what we measured as normal. I'm sorry general, your bomb is gone."

The general sighed, "Well at least it can't fall into the wrong hands now." The entire battalion looked sick this would not look good on their records for advancement. "Of course you realize there must be total secrecy on this under no circumstances can it be leaked to anyone that we lost a nuclear weapon."

"And that goes double for us." Cyril said, "if it gets out that we destroyed nuclear materials here, even accidentally, without the proper permits we'll be up a creek without a paddle."

"Deal," the general said as he shook hands with Cyril soon everyone in the building was in on the secret. No one would gain anything from letting the truth be known so all figured it was better to keep things quite. Cover stories would be fabricated and life would go on.

As the military left Cyril, Cedric and Bentley sighed in relief not noticing that a small earthquake rumbled under their feet.

###

Underneath Mount Vulcan's caldera the magma chamber continued to fill putting stress on rock that had not been severely stressed in over four centuries; they were now getting a workout and they were not at all happy about it. The hot magma worked its way through the volcano as the magma reached pockets of water steam began to build and all over the mountain geysers were erupting and the warm springs were becoming hot and the hot springs were boiling. Steam was beginning to shroud the very top of the mountain and the snow that crowned mount Vulcan year round was melting.

The melting snow was able to cool the interior water somewhat keeping anyone who was enjoying a hot springs bath from being boiled to death unless they were unlucky enough to be in a spring that was near a thermal vent. Far worse was that sulfur and other poisonous minerals were suspended in the water the intense heat was evaporating the water and turning the suspended materials into poison gas.

Fortunately for Bert and Lisa they were not near springs that were now death traps. They were at their camp finishing up dinner both were still in their swimsuits. Earlier in the day they picked out a cabin to shelter in. There were several on the mountain to cater to people who wanted to stay overnight. The cabins were quite spartan shelters with nothing more to offer than four walls and a roof. The campers were required to bring their own bedding unless they wanted to sleep on the floor and their own food that would not require refrigeration since there was no electricity on Mount Vulcan. Bert and Lisa picked one out that had a small wood burning stove so they could cook meals.

"That was great Bert. You're an excellent cook." Lisa said as she rubbed her belly.

"As good as your dad?" Bert teased.

"Don't get too full of yourself. Dad's worked in five star restaurants, but I think you have him on survivalist fare."

"I think I do too." Bert laughed as he put away the cooking utensils.

Lisa changed subjects, "it's a pity we'll have to wait a hour to go back to swimming in the springs."

"It won't seem to be that long, Lisa. We can take extra time to find a really good spring."

Lisa smiled and inched towards Bert, "Bert, since we are the only ones up here, you know what I'd like to try?"

Bert had now laid back and was resting on the ground. "No, what?"

Lisa crawled up to Bert still smiling mischievously,"Furry Dipping."

"Oh that would be..." the implications of her request just Bert him a thousand thoughts went through his mind... "fun." Well, Bert was nothing if not practical.

###

Bentley walked back to the festival. Night was beginning to fall and he felt a little better knowing he would not be doing hard time for destroying government property. He was under no illusions as to what would happen to him in prison. He was also really glad to see all the people going around having a good time blissfully unaware that if things had gone slightly differently they all would have been incinerated in an instant. The factory was outside of town and the bomb relatively small but so was the town and even a small nuke would have destroyed the whole place. Bentley decided it was not worth obsessing over and tried to put it out of his mind.

"HIIIIIIII BENTLEY!" Suddenly being nuked seemed like a good option.

"Oh hi, Annie," Bentley said to the girl Raccoon strangely he actually did not seem quite as displeased to see her maybe he was just happy she had not been vaporized.

"Where were you all afternoon? I was looking everywhere for you."

"I had some business I had to take care of." Bentley dodged the truth.

"Like what?" She leaned into him.

Bentley thought about what he was going to say; the unvarnished truth was definitely out. "We had a little mistake at the plant, fortunately nobody died." Bentley was pleased he was able to avoid having to explain anything while still maintaining a truthful front.

Annie did not actually care what Bentley was doing earlier only that he was here right now. "C'mon Bentley let's enjoy the festival." She grabbed his hand and dragged him through the crowd.

###

George W. Bushytail and Schaeffer both sat behind a table in a booth promoting civil defense or a least George W. Bushytail was as Schaeffer appeared to be asleep with his feet propped up on the table.

"Have you considered your community's safety in the event of an emergency?" The energetic squirrel said to a passer-by who had stopped to look at their booth.

"What kind of emergency?" The passer-by, a beaver with a bushy beard, asked.

"Terrorists!" the squirrel went bug eyed at the word, "They can be anywhere! Ready to maim kill and destroy!"

"OK," the beaver asked not convinced he needed anything at this booth. "And what good will plastic sheeting and duct tape do?"

Schaeffer had awoke to George W Bushytail's ranting and said, "You can use duct tape for anything. It is the handy man's secret weapon."

The beaver rubbed his bearded chin. "Hmmm, handyman's secret weapon, I bet I could make a television show out of that. Load me up."

As the beaver walked off Schaeffer grabbed George Bushytail's shoulder and plopped him back in his seat. "Relax, Bushytail nothing is going to happen this is a pretty quiet community." Schaeffer crossed his hands over his chest and tried to resume sleeping.

"How can you relax when this town is so unprepared?!"

"This is a town where the most exciting thing is who is going to win the pie eating contest. No terrorists are going to attack here and we are more than prepared for the occasional weather calamities that happen. You do realize that we're all laughing at you, don't you?"

The squirrel looked crestfallen. He could not believe that no one in this town was interested in public safety. But directly staring him in the face,or at least he thought Schaeffer was staring him in the face you could never see his eyes, was the town's civil defense administrator telling him to bug off. "I'm going to take a break." The unhappy squirrel walked off into the crowd absently kicking at stones as he wandered through the fall festival.

###

Ralph counted the receipts as George extinguished the fire in the grill. The first day of the fall festival was a success. Though initially intended as a town harvest celebration the town council had in recent years made efforts to bring in tourists from further away in hopes of fleecing them of their money. This year was the most widespread advertising they had ever tried.

"I sure am glad it's closing time Ralph, I almost have nothing left to sell." George said as he scraped at the grill with a wire brush.

"There's still a little bit left, we'll all eat well tonight." Ralph tallied the last of the receipts.

"We will since Bert won't be there." George laughed, "though Bentley's starting to give him a run for his money now."

Ralph laughed with his brother, "you know how they are at that age, they eat whatever they want and still stay thin." He stopped and spied Bentley with Annie, "Well speak of the devil look who is over there."

"Oh boy, that's not what I wanted to see for a few more years." George shook his head in disbelief.

"Told ya." Ralph smirked

"Curse you, may you have to do it someday too." George grumbled to his brother as he closed lid of the grill.

"At the rate we're going I won't have to." Ralph handed George a portfolio containing the receipts and cash from the day's till. "I'll join you guys after I run the Standard's morning print. See ya George." With that Ralph took his leave.

"Hey Bentley!" George called out to his son once Ralph got far enough away.

Bentley heard his father and ran up to the booth, "Hey dad. Did you want something?"

"I just wanted to tell you I was going home and I'm bringing back ribs. If you want you can bring your girlfriend too."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Then why is she hugging your tail?"

"Get out of there!" Bentley swiped at Annie's head causing her to scurry away though she immediately came back to his side.

"You're both welcome to join us for a late night snack, unless you have other plans."

"Thank you, Mr. Raccoon," Annie said trying to butter up Bentley's dad.

###

Ralph brushed his chin as he finished typing the article about the earthquake though he didn't appreciate the intrusion into his time with his wife he did appreciate that he had a story long enough to take up the space of Bert's column while he was on vacation. Ralph read the article one last time and was certain it was letter perfect.

Ralph checked off all items on the press' list before starting the machine he then sat down at his desk to watch and make sure it ran the paper properly. Once he had finished the printing he made sure that the papers were ready for Bentley to deliver in the morning then he shut down and cleaned the press, covered it, turned off the lights and locked the door. He couldn't wait to get back and eat some of George's ribs.

###

"Thank you for the dinner Mr. Raccoon." Annie said as she exited the door of George and Nicole's home. She was returning to her house with Ralph and Melissa as escorts for obvious reasons Bentley was not going to be the escort, much to his delight.

Even though Bentley had begun to respect Annie a bit more as they spent time together he still found her to be annoying and was glad to be rid of her. He leaned back against the back of the couch to finally relax for the first time that day.

George watched as Nicole ascended the stairs to their bedroom to prepare to turn in for the night. "Bentley, can I have a word with you?"

Bentley opened an eye to look at his father, "Sure dad."

"About that girl you were with today, your mother and I are happy that you are making new friends but we want you to know that if you need to talk."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Sure, whatever."

Bentley sighed, "Dad, I know already, rain, raincoat, they constantly told us that in school. But can I ask you something?"

George was already getting ready to go upstairs he actually hadn't expected Bentley to have any questions, "Of course you can."

"How do you make one go away?"

"What do you mean?"

"Annie, she's nice enough but how do I get her to leave me alone short of taking her out in the forest and leaving her to be eaten by bears? Do you think changing my deodorant will do it?"

"Not wearing deodorant would probably be more likely to drive her off. But why would you want to do that?"

"Because I don't like her, she's annoying and won't leave me alone."

"Funny you should say that because that is how your mother used to be. But after awhile her persistence paid off."

"Is that why you married her?"

"No I married her because I knocked her up with your sister. I wouldn't recommend that to you though." Bentley looked shocked he could have lived a lifetime without knowing that. "Well I'm going to bed now. Don't stay up too late and remember you can talk to me about anything." With that George left Bentley on the couch still in shock.

###

Bert and Lisa sat in a warm spring soaking in the luxury of the medicinal waters. Both were in their birthday suits. Lisa smiled as she waded over to where Bert was seated. She sidled up to him until they were cheek to cheek and she was practically sitting on his lap. Actually sitting on his lap would not have been practical as she was a bit bigger than he was. She nuzzled her nose against his cheek ruff and their eyes meet.

The only thing out of place in this idyllic place was the eerie silence. No birds sang, no owls made calls and even the wildlife that stayed to the ground had made themselves scarce. Bert and Lisa either did not notice or did not care about this unnatural state of affairs. As the two raccoons kissed, Bert was almost certain he could feel the water becoming warmer.

To be continued

Thank you to raccoonqueen and Kchishol1970 for the reviews and thank you to my fan base in Israel where half my hits came from for this month as well as everyone else who took the time to read it. I hope you all enjoy chapter 2.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The Raccoons and all associated characters are the property of Evergreen Raccoons Marketing and have been used without permission. Unless otherwise stated, any character not from the Raccoons television series is mine but may be used if requested. The following is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. This work is solely for the entertainment of the author and his readers and no money is either being or to be made from this work.

The Raccoons

Trapped on Mount Vulcan

Chapter 3

The next morning as the sun was coming up over the eastern horizon the majority of the residents of the Evergreen Forest and its visitors were in their beds. The forest itself was nearly silent as virtually all the wildlife that could not flee was hiding. In the background Mount Vulcan was ejecting a small amount of steam into the atmosphere from its summit.

In the town itself the civilized animals did not take any notice of the danger signals and the few who were awake were sprucing up their booths, testing the rides or in some cases just going about their normal jobs. Bentley Raccoon was not normally one of these types of people. Bentley was gathering together the copies of the Evergreen Standard he needed to deliver. This was normally Bert's job but since he was on vacation it fell to Bentley to make sure the townspeople got their news. He did not mind filling in on this job because he enjoyed having the ability to make some extra money. As he put the last of the newspaper bags on his bike a now familiar voice called out. "HI Bentley!"

Bentley's blood ran cold, "Hi Annie," he said flatly. Bentley had hoped she would be easily dismissed due to his having to deliver the paper but she apparently had anticipated this and was riding her own bicycle.

"Do you need any help delivering the paper?"

"No."

"Are you sure? With two people you can get done twice as fast."

"Not if one of them is constantly trying to grab my tail." Bentley cinched up the newspaper bag.

Annie looked displeased Bentley had seen through her carefully crafted plan. "Alright, no grabtail. I promise." Annie dug her shoe into the ground shamefully.

Bentley rolled his eyes and sighed in resignation how did she know how to manipulate him so expertly? "Alright fine you can come along just, don't cause too much trouble." Bentley mounted his bike and began his journey to deliver the paper. Neither Bentley nor Annie noticed that for this time of morning it was unusually quite in the Evergreen Forest.

As Bentley and Annie were delivering the Evergreen Standard the magma chamber beneath Mount Vulcan had reached its capacity. Now the magma was pushing its way up towards the caldera and through a network of passages that honeycombed the mountain.

As the volcano reached a point of maximum stress a small earthquake rattled the entire Evergreen Forest. It was larger than the one yesterday but still relatively small enough that most people would not notice it. In fact many of the people who were up and getting ready for the Fall Festival missed it. They did not, however, miss the eruption.

Once the stresses became to great to hold back Mount Vulcan erupted. It was only a very minor one with a small puff of ash and smoke pluming from the summit into a familiar mushroom shaped cloud.

***

Up on Mount Vulcan shrouds of mist were forming all over the summit. The hot springs that by now were extremely hot springs were producing a hazy fog when the heated water meet the cool mountain air. In some places geysers had replaced the springs due to the intense heat and pressure building up within the mountain. To anyone who was watching this unfolding scene it would be obvious that something was terribly amiss with the volcano. Unfortunately for Bert and Lisa they were not watching the scene they were otherwise engaged.

Inside a small cabin high on the mountain two sleeping raccoons were both awakened by a slight tremble as the ground beneath them began to shake. The cabin's sparse furnishings rattled as did the windows and doors and dust fell from the rafters as the earthquake singled Mount Vulcan was ready to erupt.

"What was that?" Lisa asked as the minor Earth trembler subsided. She rubbed Bert's hand, which had snaked around her midsection, to wake Bert.

"Just the ground moving back into place from last night." Bert said from behind her with a smile as he slowly began to move over Lisa from his spooning position.

Just then Mount Vulcan blew its top. "Bert, I think the volcano just erupted." Lisa said not intending any double entendre.

"Aw come on Lisa, I know it's been a while but I'm not that bad."

"I'm being serious,Bert. I think there was an eruption." Lisa wiggled out from under Bert, dressed quickly and exited the cabin.

Bert pounded the floor with his fist miffed that Lisa had gotten up and ran away. He too quickly dressed and left the cabin after her.

Lisa had not gone too far she was standing near where their campfire had been the previous night staring up at the summit of Mount Vulcan.

"Lisa what's wrong?" Bert asked as he walked up behind her smoothing out his regular red sweater.

Lisa pointed up at the cloud of ash and smoke coming out of the summit, "that."

Bert's expression changed from annoyance to fear, "Lisa we better get back to the cabin." The cloud of ash and smoke was billowing out in a mushroom shape and was almost directly over them.

Lisa decided it was best to listen to Bert. The ominous cloud hanging over them did not look like something to fool around under. As they made their way back to the cabin volcanic ash began to float down like snow and cover the ground in a light fluffy but deadly layer.

"Bert ushered Lisa into the cabin and closed the door behind them. Both were coughing having inhaled small amounts of of the pulverized rock. "Bert," Lisa coughed, "what are we going to do? We can't breath in that stuff we were barely in it for a few seconds and we're chocking."

Bert breathed heavy. Volcanic ash when inhaled became like cement in one's lungs and was deadly if exposure was too long. "Listen Lisa, we should stay here until the majority of the ash settles out. Then we can try to get down the mountain."

"Wouldn't it be better to stay where we are and let the rescue squad find us?"

"Helicopters don't fly well in this stuff, Lisa and if the volcano decides to give us a big eruption we're done for. In the meantime we better hope the roof holds up." Bert indicated to the roof of the cabin.

Bert and Lisa sat in their cabin as the volcanic ash slowly piled up. The peals of thunder were a eerie contrast to the bright sunny day and the mimic of falling snow. It was as if nature itself had become schizophrenic. The two raccoons huddled together as the roof began to creak. It wouldn't be long until Mount Vulcan decided their fate.

***

In the raccoondominium Melissa felt the bed shake slightly and knew she was not the one who did it. "Ralph what are you doing?" she asked her sleeping husband.

From his side of the bed Ralph answered back, "Huh, what?"

"The bed was shaking and I wondered what was causing it."

"I know what wasn't causing it." Ralph answered unmoved from the position he was sleeping in.

Melissa hit him with raccoon plush Ralph won her the previous day, "very funny sleeping beauty. But I still wonder what caused it."

"Maybe it was an earthquake. There was one yesterday, supposedly, I didn't feel it."

"Well I felt this one." Melissa said as she got out of bed and removed her pajamas. She reached for one of her usual pink tops when she realized Bert was not home. Feeling cheeky she grabbed Ralph's scarf and wrapped it around her neck. "Hey Ralph, who am I?"

Ralph looked up from his slumber to see his wife clad only in his scarf. "You're a handsome journalist who is secretly a superhero who fights crime and saves the world and is seen as a sex symbol by women the world over but only goes home to his lovely wife," he joked.

"Mmmmhmmm, how did you guess?" Melissa purred as she hopped onto Ralph's side of the bed. "Maybe we will get a chance to shake the bed ourselves?"

"Uncle Ralph! Aunt Melissa! Are you there?" Bentley's knocking on the front door of the raccoondominium answered that question.

"Children are nature's birth control," Melissa sighed to herself as she dressed quickly and went down to see what her nephew wanted. "What is it Bentley?" She asked him noting he had his friend from last night with him.

"Mount Vulcan has erupted! You should see it!" Bentley said excitedly. Both he and his apparent girlfriend tore off to where a few other locals were gathered staring off towards Mount Vulcan.

When Melissa got to the clearing she looked in shock. Mount Vulcan had a plume of ash and smoke issuing forth from its summit. The crowd murmured amongst themselves. None of them had ever seen Mount Vulcan do anything other than sit there.

"What is going on Melissa?" Ralph asked as he wrapped his scarf around his neck not even looking at Mount Vulcan.

"That!" Melissa pointed toward Mount Vulcan.

"Wha...When did that happen?"

"A few minutes ago it happened. We saw it." Bentley pointed between himself and his apparent girlfriend.

"Melissa get your camera, Bentley, can I interview you and... your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever, this is a big story and it will make the Sunday edition. So, what did you see?"

"We heard the eruption and watched a big puff of smoke come out." Annie said practically unable to contain herself.

"Yeah, it was coming out in a huge column then it made that mushroom like shape." Bentley motioned at the mushroom cloud of volcanic ash now rising above Mount Vulcan.

Melissa returned with her camera and began snapping pictures of the ash cloud the wind was beginning to push the could off towards the east so the town would not get hit with too much falling ash. Within the mushroom cloud flashes of lightning discharged and peals of distant thunder rolled giving the ominous feel of a coming storm despite the rest of the sky being clear and sunny.

Ralph finished his interview with Bentley and Annie and as the two juvenile raccoons speed off Bentley said, "Bert sure is lucky he has the best set in the house to see this."

Both Ralph and Melissa's blood ran cold. They had forgotten about Bert and Lisa up on Mount Vulcan. Both of them were right now in serious danger.

***

Bentley put Bert's paper delivery bags back at their place behind Bert's desk in the Evergreen Standard's offices. Offices might have been a bit of an exaggeration for the building was merely a shed with a printing press, some desks and a darkroom. Even so the small local paper did its best to keep up with the times in terms of technology all the staff now worked off of computers rather than typewriters.

Bentley sat himself down at Bert's desk and turned on Bert's computer. He rolled his eyes as the computer booted up reveling that Bert's wallpaper was a pin up photo he had taken of Lisa in a swimsuit on the dock outside his and Cedric's clubhouse.

Being the newspaper's web master it was Bentley's job to make sure breaking news was posted as quickly as possible to the newspaper's website. Right now the biggest breaking news story was Mount Vulcan erupting. Ralph had written a story for the paper about the earthquake last night but it was already out of date so Bentley looked over the wire services for something more recent. He found a news story and replaced Ralph's original with the wire service version Ralph would edit the article a little later with whatever updates he wanted.

"What are you doing, Bentley?" Annie asked. She had not expected Bentley to be too long in the shed and was waiting impatiently for him to come out.

"I'm uploading a wire article about the eruption." Actually Bentley had finished that and had gone in search of something else to occupy his time.

"That doesn't look like..."Annie nosed her way into seeing what Bentley was looking at on the computer.

"All right, fine!" Bentley closed the browser and shut down the computer.

Overjoyed to have Bentley off the computer Annie asked, "Do you want to go over to the Fall Festival?"

"No, it's too crowded. Didn't you see the line of cars when we were delivering papers?"

Now Annie got a little excited Bentley didn't want to go somewhere crowded. "We could go swimming."

Bentley was now locking up the Newspaper office, "I don't have my swimsuit."

"We could go furry dipping."

Bentley narrowed his eyes to a scowl, "I don't think so. Now I have to lock up the shed." Bentley ushered Annie out of the office.

With the office locked up and still no place to go Annie continued following Bentley. This did not please the young raccoon but he still tolerated her presence. Unfortunately for Bentley, Annie took his lack of a direct brush off as a sign he was interested in her.

As the two juvenile raccoons walked back towards their homes they had the misfortune to meet with two of their classmates. The two classmates were a pair of boys, one a wildcat and the other a bear, who had at one time taken to bullying Bentley but had since then from time to time been friendly and other times not so friendly depending on the shifting alliances of middle school. Bentley was never sure which side he would get so he tried to avoid contact as much as possible.

"Hey Bentley!" the wildcat called out.

Oh great, Bentley thought, I don't need this right now. "What do you want?"

"What are you and your girlfriend doing out so early?" the wildcat asked as his friend snickered.

We were delivering newspapers and she's not my girlfriend."

"She sure looks like one," the wildcat said. Annie just smiled at his observation.

"Well she's not. I'm out of here." Bentley tried to walk off but the wildcat pushed him directly in the chest.

"You're gay." The wildcat said laughing as his friend snickered as well.

"I am not!" Bentley snapped back.

"Yes you are, you have a girlfriend."

Bentley was momentarily stunned he could not wrap his head around the illogic of that statement. "How does having a girlfriend make you gay?" Bentley's schoolmate looked at him blankly,

"Do you even know what gay means?"

The wildcat and bear were silent for a moment, "You're gay."

Bentley had enough, "Come on Annie, "Bentley said as he grabbed her hand, "let's go swimming." Bentley dragged Annie away. She of course felt like jelly.

The wildcat began a familiar childhood chant,"Bentley and Annie sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G..." Both classmates began to snicker uncontrollably.

The two boys watched Bentley and Annie wander off, "What does gay mean?"

"I dunnow."

***

Schaeffer knocked on the door of George W. Bushytail's hotel room. "Bushytail, hey wake up we need you!" The Hotel was packed with tourists here for the Fall Festival.

The door opened and a sad, disheveled looking squirrel poked his head out. "What do you want? To make fun of me some more."

"The volcano erupted were asking for your input."

The squirrel closed the door then immediately reopened it washed up and dressed in a suit. Schaeffer did not have the slightest idea how he had done that and decided it was not worth trying to understand the ways of squirrels.

***

The pigs were spending their time in the factory. Cyril had told them to clean the building until it was spotless. The building was now spotless and the pigs still had a couple of days to fill with work.

"What should we do now?" Pig one asked tossing a paper airplane in the spotless factory.

Pig three picked up the airplane from where it landed on the floor and put it in a wastebasket. "Maybe we could clean the conference room."

"We already did that. In fact we already cleaned everything in this building." Pig two said as he swiveled around in a computer chair.

"We should go to the festival. There's nothing to do here." pig one said.

"But the boss said." Pig three began.

"The boss said we should clean this factory. It's clean. Let's go." Pig two got up from the chair he was sitting in.

"But if the boss sees us." Pig three began again.

Pig one snapped his fingers, "We could wear a disguise. Then the boss won't know." All three pig snickered as they rubbed their hands together.

The three pigs made their way back to their locker room and began to look through their many disguises that they used for mostly trying to trick the Raccoons in general and Bert in particular. "We'll have to have something have covers our faces just in case the boss is also there." pig one said

Pigs two and three dug through the many disguises looking for one that would conform to pig one's checklist. Soon a pile of robes sunglasses and headdresses was on the floor.

"With these disguises no one will know it is us and the boss will never know we left the factory." Pig one said as he got dressed in the costume which took on the look of and Arab sheik. Pigs tow and three look like they were wearing niqabs completely black coverings with only eye holes for sight. "Let's go to the festival!" pig one shouted.

"Yes sir, Yes sir." Pigs two and three said in agreement.

***

Ralph and Melissa returned to the raccoondominium to try to reach Bert and Lisa via their cell phones. Unfortunately when they dialed Bert's number they were greeted with the sound of Bert's cell ringing in his bedroom. Lisa's number was also unreachable ringing several times before her voice mail picked up asking the caller to leave a message. "It appears they didn't take their phones with them." Ralph said as he hung up the raccoondominim's land line.

"It makes sense. Who would want to take a phone up there?" Melissa said.

"Right now I'd want one if I were up there," Ralph stated. "I'm going to call George and Nicole they will need to know about this and maybe they have a way of reaching Bert and Lisa." Ralph picked up the telephone and dialed George's number.

***

Bentley walked out the front door of his house in his swimsuit and his regular blue shirt. He ignored the ringing cellphone in Lisa's room as he locked the door behind him. He couldn't believe he was doing this why was he going swimming with Annie? For that matter why did he hurry to change? It is not like girls were quick about anything involving clothing. Especially if Lisa was representative of her sex.

As he walked to the lake he thought to himself about Annie. He didn't even like her yet she was expertly manipulating him into doing whatever it was she wanted. How is it that girls do that? Bentley thought to himself thinking of how Bert had pretty much been reduced to being at Lisa's beck and call when previously he had been quite happy go lucky.

By the time Bentley made it to Bert and Cedric's clubhouse dock he was no closer to solving the mystery than he was before and decided not to worry about it. He dipped his toes in the water and shivered. Summer was definitely over even if it still had a few weeks to go on the calender. "Where is Annie?" Bentley wondered aloud to himself even though he had told himself he had no interest in her.

As if on cue Annie shouted from the lake, "Hi Bentley!" Amazingly enough she had beaten him there shattering his illusion that girls take forever to get dressed. Granted she wasn't wearing that much but still it was the principle. What good were stereotypes if you didn't conform to them.

"Hi Annie," Bentley said though he said it unenthusiastically as he unbuttoned his shirt. Annie watched as he unbutton his shirt and she began to make 'bow chicka bow wa' sounds much to Bentley's displeasure. "Do you mind?"

"No I don't," Annie said with a giggle though she stopped her musical interlude and decided to swim out further from the shore. "You're not shaped like a pear anymore."

Bentley frowned slightly. His karate lessons had lessened his pudgy build somewhat but that did not mean he liked having it brought up. To get back at her he decided to cannonball her. The two raccoons were enjoying themselves so much that they never noticed Bentley's cellphone ringing on the dock.

***

At the town hall the town council was convening an emergency meeting at Schaeffer's request. Most of the members of council were unhappy to have to attend a meeting especially since they were mostly businessmen who either had business that were a part of the fall festival or supporting it. Lady Baden-Baden gaveled the meeting to order.

"Schaeffer, since you requested this meeting, you may speak."

Schaeffer cleared his throat, "Thank you Mayor Baden-Baden and council. As you are aware Mount Vulcan has erupted for the first time in four hundred years. I think some safety measures should be put into place."

"What safety measures?" A councilman asked.

Schaeffer looked dumb the town did not really have any plans for the volcano's eruption except to have people evacuate on their own and this was without a massive influx of people for the festival.

Fortunately for Schaeffer George W. Bushytail spoke up, "You have to evacuate the town! If the winds change or the volcano has a bigger eruption there could be thousands of casualties!"

"As much as I hate to agree with him, I think he's right." Schaeffer indicated towards the squirrel.

"This is preposterous!" A different councilman shouted as he banged his fist on the table, " We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to advertise this Fall Festival! It would be madness to cancel it over a minor volcanic, burp!"

"There are tens of thousands of people in town right now their safety..." George W. Bushytail started."

The sound of a loud bag stopped all conversation. Lady Baden-Baden gaveled down the excited squirrel. "Mr. Bushytail please," She started, "I am going to call a recess of this meeting." She gaveled the meeting into recess.

Lady Baden-Baden motioned both Schaeffer and Bushytail to the dais. "We cannot have a panic we absolutely need this festival to go off without a hitch."

"Lady Baden-Baden, we have to think of the safety of the visitors as well as the townspeople. A volcanic eruption could be devastating." Schaeffer started.

A councilman interjected, "Could, or it could be a big draw. News is starting to hit that Mount Vulcan has erupted for the first time in 400 years. It has brought in some media and that is going to bring out the curiosity seekers. In fact, we are already seeing much heavier traffic today over yesterday. Besides what are the chances this thing will erupt again?"

"I can't believe you are willing to gamble with people's lives." Schaeffer said.

Lady Baden-Baden interjected, "Schaeffer, we have no choice. This town is dying. All the young people want to leave and go to Vancouver or Calgary or Toronto. If we can't give people a reason to stay we might as well decide what we want carved on our town's tombstone."

"What if we keep people out of the fallout zone? Volcanic ash can be deadly if inhaled." George W. Bushytail tried to get the local authorities to do something.

"Well the ash is blowing away from town to the northeast we can restrict access to that area." Another of the councilmen said.

The town council members and the mayor looked at and mumbled to each other then came to a verdict. Lady Baden-Baden gaveled the meeting back to order, "after consideration we will declare a state of emergency in the area to the northeast of Mount Vulcan access will be restricted to residents and emergency personal unless the situation changes." Lady Baden-Baden banged the gavel and the meeting was over.

***

Ralph and Melissa hooked up with George and Nicole at George's booth. Both of Lisa's parents were in a state of panic. "Where are they?!" Lisa's terrified parents shouted.

"We don't know exactly where they went we were hoping they might have told you guys," Ralph said.

"Nether one said where they were going," George said. "It makes sense Nicole and I didn't tell her parents when we went up there."

"Do you think Bentley might know where Bert and Lisa are?" Melissa asked.

"We don't even know where Bentley is." Nicole said he is not answering his phone.

"He delivered the Standard this morning and gave me an interview about the eruption but I haven't seen him since then." Ralph said and Melissa nodded in agreement.

"But someone must know where he went." Nicole was now frantic with worry.

A quarter hour later George had left his booth in the care of some of his television show's staffers and the Raccoon family continued to search around for Bentley or anyone who might have seen him. They asked anyone the could if they had seen him. Despair was leading to desperation when two of Bentley's schoolmates wandered by discussing dictionary definitions to themselves. "I think it's a woman's name." Said the young wildcat.

"I think it means festive." the wildcat's companion said back.

"Either way it seems like a dumb insult. Why do we use it."

"I dunknow."

Seeing the two students discussing nothing of value, Nicole asked them, "Do you know where Bentley is?"

"He went swimming with his girlfriend," The wildcat said.

"Do you know where?" Nicole asked panicked.

"No he just dragged her off." The bear schoolmate said.

"At least we narrowed it down." Ralph said. "Let's check along the shore they couldn't have gone too far."

***

Bentley and Annie were swimming in Evergreen Lake which happened to be a big lake while his frantic relatives were scouring the shore looking for him.

Bentley's ears perked at he sound of his name being called by his parents. "What could they want?" he wondered.

"I'm over here!" he shouted.

"He's over here," his parents shouted to presumably his aunt and uncle.

Annie swam over to Bentley, "what do your parent's want?"

"I don't know."

It was Nicole that had found them first. "Bentley!" his mother shouted.

"What mom?" Bentley shook water off his check ruffs.

"Do you know where your sister is?" his mother asked.

"She went to the hot springs with Bert." Bentley said, wondering why his mother would ask that everyone knew where they had gone.

Nicole wondered how someone as smart as Bentley could not understand a simple question, "Do you know where on the volcano they went?"

"No, Lisa didn't say anything to me neither did Bert."

Nicole began to despair then Annie spoke up, "I think my sister said something like, 'it's about time they went to Valhalla.'"

"That would make sense those are the highest and most secluded springs . They'd go there if they wanted to be sure of being alone." Ralph said.

"Well we better tell search and rescue before they really end up going to Valhalla." Melissa said.

As the adults walked off in search of search and rescue Bentley came to the realization that Bert and Lisa were in danger. He realized that if he had not help develop the waste disposal system they would not be in said danger. Bentley emerged from the water in a state of shock, "I killed them."

Annie watched as Bentley left the water, "Bentley where are you going? Bentley, Bentley?!"

***

Schaeffer and Bushytail exited the town hall Neither one was happy with the outcome of the meeting. The town's council was more interested in the fall festival being successful than evacuating the people attending. However, who could blame them? Presently Mount Vulcan wasn't doing anything more than smoking and even the fallout zone was away from the town proper.

"Schaeffer! Schaeffer!" two female voices cried out as the entire Raccoon family, except Bentley, ran up to him.

"What's gotten you all in a flight?" he asked.

"Oh Schaeffer, it is Lisa. She is up on the volcano with Bert." Nicole said almost out of breath.

"Up on the mountain!" Schaeffer slapped his head, as if he did not have enough to worry about now he had two wayward tourists in harm's way. "What are they doing there?"

"What do you think?" Ralph said trying not to be too obvious.

"Of course, how stupid of me. Bushytail, can you take charge of the HSD booth? I'm going to have to go on a search and rescue mission."

The diminutive squirrel puffed up, "I can!" He then rushed off presumably to the HSD booth.

"Now that he is gone, can you tell me where Bert and Lisa are staying up there."

"We do not know exactly," Nicole said, "they did not say where they were going to camp only that they were going to the hot springs."

"They may have gone all the way up to Valhalla." George interjected.

"Well,at least that narrows it down somewhat. Hopefully they are somewhere near the main hot springs and didn't set up somewhere more remote." Schaeffer sensed he was panicking Lisa's parents, "Don't worry folks, we'll find them." He then turned to go to the search and rescue office to get the helicopter.

***

Lady Baden-Baden and a couple of town officials were manning the town's welcome booth. She as well as the other town leaders were trying to get people to move to the town. At the moment the only people interested were a male beaver and a female weasel. "I'm sure you will find this town very accommodating to interspecies couples. Why my husband Knoxie and I are an interspecies couple." Lady Baden-Baden indicated to her alligator husband who was helping move some boxes.

"We are not worried about that instead we are concerned about whether or not you have good schools up here." The weasel said as she brought two excited children to heel.

Lady Baden-Baden puffed up,"Why of course our schools are good."

At that moment the two of schoolmates of Bentley's walked by, "apparently it means happy."

"Really? So maybe that's why our teacher said gay people go to hell, God hates happy people."

"I guess so." The two youngsters wander off into the crowd.

The weasel and beaver both scowled at Lady Baden-Baden. "Those are the children of tourists." Lady Baden-Baden lied to the couple.

The weasel and beaver both harrumphed as they took the town's brochures and then collected their children. Schaeffer watched them walk off before walking up to lady baden-Baden.

"Mayor Baden-Baden, could I get you to sign this fuel requisition form?" He asked the disgruntled chicken.

Lady Baden-Baden was still unhappy that the weasel and beaver were turned off towards moving to the forest by two of its lesser scholars, "where is the controller? Isn't he supposed to sign these things?"

"I couldn't find him and either of you can sign."

"What is it for? The town's money doesn't grow on trees, you know."

"Search and rescue. Two hikers are trapped on the volcano, Bert and Lisa."

The realization that two of her townspeople and two voters were the ones at risk softened her considerably. "Well be sure to get them off the volcano."

"Don't worry Mayor Baden-Baden," Schaeffer said as he walked off with the form, "we will."

***

Schaeffer and a helicopter pilot walked across the airport tarmac to the waiting helicopter. Aside from the volcanic cloud the sky was clear and the pilot was not happy about having to work. "I hope that these tourists are paying for this these rescue missions aren't cheap."

"Oh come on Hiram," Schaeffer said to the pilot, "They went up their yesterday before the eruption you can't blame them for getting trapped. It's not like the volcano was scheduled to erupt. And besides practically everyone in the town past puberty has been up there." Schaeffer got into the cockpit of the helicopter.

The pilot laughed lightly as he entered the cockpit shaking his head and rolling his eyes as he began his preflight checklist, "All right, all right, you got me. Though they had pretty bad timing going up just as an eruption happens."

"It's probably never a good time to be trapped." Schaeffer said as the helicopter motor speed up and the helicopter lifted off the ground.

***

When the ash fall lightened somewhat Bert and Lisa decided to moved out from the campgrounds and were heading down the mountain along its southwest face. This trail was more difficult to traverse but it was the direction the prevailing winds were blowing from so Bert figured it would blow ash away from them and be safer. Very few people ever went this way so there were no real trails and the volcanic ash made the trek even more dangerous. Both raccoons wore masks made out of their tattered clothing over their mouths and noses in an attempt to keep the fine powdery ash from getting into their lungs.

Even though the fallout from the volcano had abated somewhat when Bert urged Lisa to leave the cabin and make a run for safety. However, every time they moved ash either rose around them or fell from the overburdened trees coating their clothing and masks in a gray smoky mist. The rocky ash was ankle deep and cut at their feet and this was especially trying for Bert who was not wearing shoes.

"Bert, how far are we away from the Evergreen Forest?" Lisa asked. Her words muffled by the mask she was wearing.

"At least half a days hike," Bert said in reply. His own words muffled as well. "Once we get off the mountain and hit the lowlands we will be able to pick up speed. As Bert spoke an earthquake rumbled shacking both of them and causing ash to fall off the trees raising up a cloud of gray smoke. Mount Vulcan was about to erupt again.

***

Above the Evergreen forest heading directly towards the main campgrounds on Mount Vulcan Schaeffer and Hiram flew unaware of the earthquake that presaged the eruption. They, however, did see the eruption in spectacular fashion. The one that took place in the morning was small compared to this one; a deafening blast turned every head in the forest towards the summit. A massive plume of smoke rose out of the caldera boiling skyward like some kind of demonic cloak.

"Hold on tight. We might not make it out of this." The pilot said as he tried to steady the aircraft. Schaeffer braced himself and silently prayed this day would not be his last.

Fortunately for them the eruption was not enough to force them to crash. Unfortunately the volcano ejected a large quantity of molten magma which was falling down on the forest as fiery volcanic bombs. Even worse for the helicopter and its crew was the massive plume of ash that could choke the air intakes and ruin the engine. The pilot decided to fly back to town.

"What about Bert and Lisa!" Schaeffer shouted to the pilot.

"There's nothing I can do the falling ash will clog the engine, we won't survive. Chances are if they are still in the campground, they won't either." The pilot leveled the bad news to Schaeffer.

Schaeffer looked sick he had known Bert since he was born he couldn't imagine the Evergreen Forest without him and poor Lisa, what would her parents do?

***

The helicopter motor weazed as it touched back down at the airport. The entire Raccoon family minus Bentley was there waiting. Nicole bolted to the helicopter fully expecting her daughter to be in the cockpit. When she got to the helicopter and did not see her she looked to Schaeffer who could only shake his head sadly. By this time the rest of the raccoons ran up to the helicopter.

"Schaeffer, where're Lisa and Bert?" Ralph was the one who had to ask what all were wondering.

"I'm sorry Ralph, the eruption forced us back we were lucky not to crash."

Nicole was now in a state of panic. "You have to go back and get them!"

Now the pilot spoke up, "Ma'am there is no way we can go up there now. The eruption is scattering ash all over the forest we wouldn't make it halfway before we were downed. This helicopter was not made to fly through volcanic ash and even if it was we don't have the air filters designed to filter fine particulate matter anyway. Besides they are probably..."

Schaeffer cut off the pilot before he said something unfortunate to Lisa parents. "They are probably taking cover from the volcano. We wouldn't be able to find them right now anyway." Schaeffer hated to give Lisa's mother false hope but as of right now it wouldn't do her any good to believe otherwise there was still reason to believe that Bert and Lisa were not yet casualties even if it was slim.

Nicole was now in a state of shock. She could barely hold herself up and Melissa decided to help by taking her home. "Come on Nicole, I'm sure everything will be fine. Let's get you home." Melissa helped Nicole walk home.

George was coping a little better or at least appeared to. "I had better take care of my booth at the festival." George wandered off as if in a daze.

Ralph was now alone with Schaeffer. "Level with me Schaeffer. What are their chances?"

Schaeffer sighed heavily, "I'd start writing their obituaries. If they can't make it off that mountain themselves they're done. I'm sorry Ralph." Schaeffer walked off to file his report.

Schaeffer's words chilled Ralph to the bones. He could not believe Bert and Lisa were gone. "No, not Bert, he's too resourceful he won't go like this he'll make it out." Ralph was not ready to write their obituaries not yet even if the words were forming in the back of his mind.

***

The townspeople and tourists watched Mount Vulcan erupt with a mixture of ohs and ahs. Some even cheered as if it were some kind of gigantic natural fireworks display. Hundreds if not thousands of cameras were capturing the volcano on film or tape. In truth it was quite a sight to behold. The first eruption merely sent a column of ash and smoke into the sky this one hurled rocks and lava which crashed back down on the forest in the immediate vicinity of the volcano. The lava bombs trailed smoke on their pathway from the volcano's caldera to the ground below. The caldera itself glowed red as it filled with magma and began to overflow melting the remaining snow on the summit.

The people who were watching from the town probably had no idea that right now two of their neighbors were in danger nor that the massive melting would soon trap them all.

To Be Continued

AN: Well here it is only a month late. I hope you enjoyed this chapter hopefully the next will be up sooner.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The Raccoons and all associated characters are the property of Evergreen Raccoons Marketing and have been used without permission. Unless otherwise stated, any character not from the Raccoons television series is mine but may be used if requested. The following is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. This work is solely for the entertainment of the writer and his audience and no money is to be made from the below work.

The Raccoons

Trapped on Mount Vulcan

Chapter 4

The Eruption of Mount Vulcan ejected lava bombs all around the forest. The largest and heaviest ones landed the closest to the volcano's summit gouging out craters where they incinerated anything around where they landed. If Bert and Lisa had stayed in the cabin they were originally in they would both have been killed by a direct hit from a large lava bomb.

Fortunately for them they had decided to try to make their way down the mountain and had put some distance between the summit and themselves. By the midpoint of the day they had made their way down the mountain and had made it to the foothills of Mount Vulcan. The trek was all the more amazing in that there was still deadly ash falling from the sky from the morning eruption. Coarse gray ash covered everything including the two raccoons now running for their lives. Aside from the black fur around their eyes both looked like specters wandering across a ghostly landscape. With the new eruption the added danger of being hit by hot falling rock, "Lisa, we have, to take shelter, somewhere."

Underneath the Evergreen Forest was a limestone Karst topography and there were many caves and underground rivers. It was in one of these natural caverns that Bert and Lisa took shelter as all around them volcanic bombs were raining down death and destruction. Where the bombs landed fires began to break out. Smoke rose from the forest as fires began. Most burned themselves out quickly doing only limited damage but every so often one would grow larger feeding on dry brush and deadwood.

As Bert ushered Lisa into a cave the two raccoons collapsed to the floor in a coughing fit and a small amount of the ash fell off them raising a small gray cloud that settled quickly. "Bert," Lisa said from their refuge, "what is that noise and that awful smell?"

Bert pulled off the mask that was covering his mouth and nose raising yet another small cloud of dust and ash. "It's the underground rivers, they are swollen with melt water. As for the rotten egg smell that's sulfur dioxide."

"Bert did we die and this is our punishment?" Lisa wondered absently.

"If this is for last night it's worth it." Bert tried to lighten the mood though if he could pick one person to spend eternity with it was Lisa.

Lisa smiled in agreement the previous night was worth it though she was certain they were not actually dead.

***

All over Mount Vulcan small rivers were being cut through rock and ash by the melting snow. The water had also taken on a noticeable whitish tint a sign it was contaminated by sulfuric acid as a byproduct of the eruption. As the new found rivers made their way down the mountain they picked up debris such as; trees, rocks, ash and carried it down stream until the reached the main established watershed. Every so often dams made of the debris would form causing small but deadly lakes to form behind them.

When the lakes got too full they would burst the dam and continue downstream carrying with them more trees and assorted debris until they got to the railroad bridge. The trestle bridge trapped floating trees, leaves, dirt and mud and slowly a lake began to form behind the bridge.

The buildup would not affect the town directly but the main line of transportation with the outside world was the rail line and if it were cut there would be no way out except for two small roads which were already filled to overcapacity with traffic going into town and which also crossed the same river that the rail bridge crossed.

The more time passed the more debris packed behind the bridge and the higher the water level rose. The bridge groaned under this added stress. Once the makeshift dam reached the top of the bridge it gave way. The overflow washed over the bridge and it collapsed washing down the ravine towards the road bridges.

Far to the south a lone fox sat observing computer monitors controlling rail traffic throughout the western part of the province. His weekend shift was for the most part boring as rail traffic was light and he was mostly trying to keep himself from dozing off when an alert sounded.

The alert indicated that there was a breach in the Evergreen Forest section of a short mixed passenger and freight line that ran up along a series of tiny mining and lumber communities. He could not believe that the alert was accurate and tapped on the screen as if that would do anything. He picked up the phone and dialed the Evergreen station.

After about a minute with no connection being made he began to suspect something was happening. He dialed again this time to the station just north of the Evergreen Forest. This time the station master picked up. "Skunk Swamp Station," the voice of a bored station master said.

"Triple S this is the control center in Vancouver. I'm showing an anomalous reading on the Evergreen Line and I can't reach the Evergreen Forest station. Have you heard anything from the engineers?"

"Not a thing though there haven't been any trains since this morning though there are more than likely a couple sitting at the Evergreen Station due to some shindig they are throwing this weekend. Bad timing too, with Mount Vulcan erupting."

"Maybe that's the problem. Have there been any earthquakes?"

"A couple they've all been pretty small though."

"OK thanks, Have a good weekend." The fox hung up the phone then dialed again.

"This is control center can we get some men to inspect the Evergreen Line?" he paused as the the other end of the line answered then he began again, "I don't care if it is a holiday weekend someone has to be on call. Send them up." The fox hung up the phone again. He hoped that it was merely earthquakes that were messing up the sensitive equipment.

***

Soon after breaching the railroad trestle the swollen Evergreen River reached the first of two road bridges. The road bridges were constructed of reinforced concrete and steel but the river was now pushing a massive amount of debris including: tress, mud, the railroad bridge and cell phone towers. It was not long before a new dam formed behind the road bridge.

Unlike the railroad bridge there was continuous traffic on the road and the motorists were watching the river warily. A few tried calling town on their cell phones but found that the town was no longer connected to the outside world.

"Mayor Baden Baden, we have a problem." Schaeffer said to Lady Baden-Baden at the town's welcome booth.

"What now?" Lady Baden-Baden said annoyed at once again being disturbed. Her earlier failed attempt to impress the weasel and beaver couple had meet with failure but since then she had better success with later visitors and was unhappy with the disturbance.

"The railroad bridge has washed out." Schaeffer said.

"What do you mean the railroad bridge has washed out?" Lady Baden-Baden said quietly as she stood up from the chair she was sitting in. Her husband Mr. Knox and some of the town council stopped working and watched in concern as she spoke with Schaeffer.

"I mean it's gone. Apparently after the volcano erupted the melt water from the summit has made its way down the Evergreen River and washed out the bridge. Our main communication lines were on that bridge. We're cut off from the world right now."

Now Lady Baden-Baden looked shocked and the other councilmen also looked nervous. "Mayor Baden-Baden, what should we do?" they asked her.

Lady Baden-Baden as like most politicians was unequal to the task so she did what all politicians do, create a committee. "We should convene the town council." She turned to her alligator husband, "Knoxie you take care of the booth."

***

Lady Baden-Baden retreated into the mayor's office and sat behind her desk. Schaeffer, Ralph, Cedric, Professor Smedly-Smyth, George W. Bushytail and few other townspeople followed her into the office.

"Gentlemen," she began, "I don't have to tell you we have a serious predicament. Now what can we do about it?"

"We have to evacuate, Lady Baden-Baden," Ralph said breaking the naval gazing the towns leaders were reduced to.

"Can that be done?" Lady Baden-Baden asked the crew chief for the towns roads and bridges.

He shock his head no, "There is no way we can open those roads to traffic without the roads being inspected assuming they are even still there. They may be gone by now. My crews have set up road blocks on the Evergreen forest side of the river but coming from the south no one will know they are in danger."

"Why can't we call out?" Lady Baden-Baden asked.

"The telephone line was on the railroad bridge that is officially out. Cell phone towers were set up along the main roads but they were in the path of the Evergreen River and were washed away. We have short range two-way radios but no way to get in contact with anyone beyond our immediate area."

"You should have bought satellite phones that would have allowed you to call out even if the lines were severed." George W. Bushytail said.

"We couldn't afford that." Lady Baden-Baden said trying to deflect the diminutive squirrel from spilling the beans.

"You did get a grant from The Homeland Security Department for equipment and salaries for people in this sort of emergency." George W. Bushytail twitched crazily as he reminded the town leaders of their dereliction of duty."

"Wait, what grant?" Ralph asked.

"The Department of Homeland Security offered grants for anti terrorism equipment, most of which serves a, dual purpose." George W. Bushytail emphasized the second part of the sentence.

"Why didn't the town buy a satellite phone then if the feds were paying for it?" Ralph asked.

Lady Baden-Baden gulped as she tried to figure out what to say "Why don't we have a satellite phone, Schaeffer?" Lady Baden-Baden directed the question to her head of civil defense.

Now it was Schaeffer's turn to sweat, "Uh, well, we sort of spent the money for other things."

"What other things?" Ralph asked.

"Plastic sheeting and duct tape." Schaeffer said sheepishly tugging at his neck.

"You spent the entire grant on plastic sheeting and duct tape?"

"And a machine gun."

"You could have purchased emergency supplies and equipment with the grant." George W. Bushytail said.

"I don't like this guy and I just met him but he's right." Ralph said as he motioned to the frazzled squirrel, "we should have spent the grant money on emergency equipment."

"It's too late to worry about that now. We have tens of thousands of people who are now trapped with nowhere to go." Schaeffer said.

"And no way to call for help." Ralph noted.

Cedric spoke up, "The pigs have a satellite phone. They use it sometimes when they have to be out doing something for pop."

"That's a great idea Cedric, now we just have to find the pigs," Ralph said. "Does anyone know where they are?"

"Well pop wanted them to work at the factory all weekend but due to, certain efficiencies, they got done early. Maybe they are at the festival."

"Let's find the pigs. At the very least we can get some emergency crews up here to fix the roads." The meeting broke and everyone went in search of the pigs.

***

After taking shelter in a cave for a few hours Bert and Lisa resumed their way across a rock strewn wilderness they were now in some of the wildest and least traversed places in the Evergreen Forest. No one would think to look for them In this part of the forest not that anyone could look for them right now. Most of the trees had branches that had snapped due to the weight of the volcanic ash giving them a skeletal appearance. The absence of any green gave the whole area the look of a post apocalyptic moonscape.

The two raccoons moved as quickly as they could stirring up clouds of ash as they walked which had turned the masks gray around their mouths and noses. They meandered around snapped tree trunks, severed branches and the ever present dust and ash that made their escape hellish.

"Bert, when, can, we rest, again?" Lisa panted. Her voice muffled by the mask she was wearing.

"I don't, know, Lisa. There is, no where, around, here, to stop, and I, want to, put, as much, distance, between, us and, the volcano." Bert answered his voice also muffled by a mask.

Once conversation ran out the two moved silently until the ground became less difficult to traverse. The area had opened up and a stream of whitish water flowed through a small ravine. The trees were less thick in this area so they decided to catch their breath here.

"Why are we stopping, Bert?" Lisa asked not unhappy that they had stopped.

Bert pointed to the river, "That's why."

"The creek, we'll just cross it it doesn't look that deep."

"It's full of sulfuric acid. You can tell by the whitish tint. You wouldn't want that stuff in contact with your fur or skin. C'mon well have to find a place further down stream to ford." Bert began walking along the bank. Lisa followed walking in his footsteps.

***

At the fall festival a number of the tourists were becoming aware that the roads out of town were now blocked. Many of them were unhappy because they were not intending to stay overnight and there were not nearly enough hotel rooms to accommodate everyone. Attempts to call out were impossible due to communications being cut and to make matters even worse rumors were beginning to circulate that a major city had been attacked and that was why communications were now cut. Tensions were running high and Schaeffer and George W. Bushytail were sent to quell the unrest.

"What is going on? Why are we trapped here?!" A female weasel with oddly shaped square glasses asked.

Schaeffer tried to mollify the frightened crowd. "No one is trapped. Due to the volcano erupting there have been some flash floods. The railroad bridge is out and because it carried the main telephone lines they too are out. The main roads need to be inspected before we can allow traffic on them."

A male beaver who was with the with the weasel asked, "is it true Vancouver was attacked?" A rumble went through the crowd, Schaeffer had obviously not convinced them.

"No, Vancouver has not been attacked."

"What about Calgary?"

"No."

"What about Toronto?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because terrorists have better things to do. Listen folks, no one has been attacked. This is a very localized event. Please everyone be reasonable." Schaeffer knew he was losing the crowd, "Bushytail do something."

"Tell us what the terrorists look like!" Someone in the crowd demanded.

"Tell them something completely ridiculous, Bushytail. Then they won't believe you and will calm down." Schaeffer pushed the squirrel forward offering him up as a sacrifice to the crowd.

George W. Bushytail began to sweat, "Um, well, terrorists, look like... well they have pink skin and flat noses but they wear robes so usually you can only see their eyes through their sunglasses, oh and they have curly tails."

The crowd looked at the squirrel like he was nuts. Murmurs of 'thats ridiculous' and 'what a moron' could be heard and they began to calm down and disperse. Schaeffer breathed a sigh of relief, with the crowd calmed down he could concentrate on finding the pigs and communicating with the outside world for help.

Unfortunately just as the crowds started to disperse the pigs happened by wearing robes and sunglasses. "Excuse me sir, we are traveling dignitaries and wondered what the presentation was about?"

A tourist who was listening to the squirrel rolled his eyes and said, "Oh some idiot is talking about..." He turned his head to face the pigs, "terror... terror... terrorists!" The tourist shouted at the top of his lungs and pointed at the pigs causing a number of people to turn to face them.

"Oh my god, that moron was right!" a female tourist said.

"They've come to get us!"

"Not if we get them first." Now the crowd was turning hostile. The pigs started to think their disguise was not such a good idea.

"Does anyone have any rope?"

"I've got duct tape." A bearded beaver said.

The crowd was now advancing on the pigs who were backing up with their arms extended to ward off the savage beat down they were about to get.

Schaeffer saw the pigs were about to become the main attraction at a lynching, "Oh no, we need those three." He said aloud to himself. "Hey everyone!" He shouted to the crowd, "there's some terrorists over there!" he pointed in the opposite direction from the pigs.

With the crowd momentarily distracted the pigs made a break for it. The crowd, however, was not distracted for long. And soon the chase was on again.

Schaeffer pressed the button of his two way radio, "We found the pigs."

"Good, where are they?" Ralph answered back.

"Right in front of a lynch mob. I'd suggest we rescue them quickly if we want that satellite phone."

"We'll get the civil defense auxiliaries to help." Ralph said thinking of the ancient soldiers that were press ganged into service.

***

When Ralph and the town council, with the auxiliaries in tow, found the pigs they were about to be captured. "Someone has to do something!" Ralph shouted.

"I know crowd control!" The elderly german shepard barked loudly.

"Well Then start controlling that crowd!" Ralph shouted back.

A burst of machine gun fire went over the heads of the crowd and they immediately screamed and fled for cover leaving the pigs fortunately unscathed.

"Your method of crowd control was to shoot a machine gun over their heads?!" Ralph asked incredulously.

"Nein! My method of crowd control was to fire into the crowd with a machine gun!" the german shepard said back still convinced that was a good idea.

"Give me that!" Ralph wenched the old machine gun from the elderly dog before he could try again.

"Where did you learn crowd control?!" Ralph asked.

"In Flander's fields!"

One of the Canadian world war veterans spoke around his dentures, "I thought that was you."

"At least we have the pigs now." Schaeffer said. "Take them into custody. For their own safety." He said to the elderly dogs who immediately complied and arrested the terrified pigs.

To Be Continued


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: The Raccoons and all associated characters are the property of Evergreen Raccoons Marketing and have been used without permission. Unless otherwise stated, any character not from the Raccoons television series is mine but may be used if requested. The following is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. This work is solely for the entertainment of the writer and his audience and no money is to be made from the below work.

The Raccoons

Trapper on Mount Vulcan

Chapter 5

The three pigs were arrested and taken to the town jail where they were being interrogated. The elderly auxiliaries were attempting to extract information regarding the pigs satellite phone from them using an interrogation handbook. The pigs were, however, not talking. Pig one was strapped down to a table as he was interrogated by the German Shepard and one of the Canadian auxiliaries. Pig three sat in a corner as two Canadian auxiliaries were holding an electric fan on him. The Evergreen Forest jail did not have air conditioning to be turned up to uncomfortable levels so the auxiliaries were using a fan set to high. The pig, however, just looked comfortable. Pig two had been taken from the room by the other auxiliary to somewhere unknown.

"Vhere ist die satellite phone?" The german shepard barked at pig one.

"You'll never get me to talk!" Pig one shouted back only to be splashed in the face with a bucket of water by the Canadian auxiliary.

While pig one was sputtering Cyril and Ralph walked in to see if the satellite phone had been located. "What in blue blazes is going on here?" Cyril shouted when he saw what was going on.

"Vee are interrogating the prisoners, sir!" The german shepard barked out as he saluted Cyril and Ralph.

"And where is the other pig?" Ralph asked much more calmly than Cyril.

At that moment a gunshot rang out from another room in the jail. "We have shot your friend." The german shepard calmly said to pig one."

A few seconds later Pig Two ran past the door, "They're crazy!"

He was followed by the last auxiliary who shouted, "Stand still you little porker. I can't hit you when you're moving," as he pointed a wildly shaking pistol at the fleeing pig.

Ralph decided to step in, "Stop! You're not supposed to actually shot them!" He took the pistol from the auxiliary.

"We're not?" the elderly veteran looked confused.

"The german shepard turned back to pig one, "Vhere ist the satellite phone?"

Another bucket of water splashed pig one in the face, "what do you want me to say?"

"Belgium," the german shepard said quietly to the pig.

"Belgium, it's in Belgium!" the pig shouted.

"It's in Belgium, shall we make plans to invade?" the german shepard said to Cyril who slapped his hand to his forehead and pulled it down over his face.

"Oh boss!" The three pigs shouted to their employer, "they're torturing us!"

"You three lamebrains think this is torture!" Cyril shouted, "I'll give you real torture! Tell me where the satellite phone is or you're fired!"

All three pigs squealed in terror and pig one blubbered, "It's in our locker room behind the poster of Ham Solo. Please don't fire us" All three tried to hug Cyril's legs.

"Let go of me you three bacon bits!" Cyril shouted to the pigs now clinging to his legs. The pigs immediately complied and let go. "Keep these three locked up, for their own safety. I'll get the satellite phone." Cyril left the room and the pigs resumed being locked up.

###

Bert and Lisa made there way to a wide section of river that was very shallow. In the River there were stones that made convenient steps for crossing. At least they would if the river were not infused with sulfuric acid. The persistent whitish color hung in the water a constant reminder of the danger they faced. "Bert it doesn't look like we can get any further downstream on this side of the stream." Lisa noted to Bert as the river took a turn against a steep slope that would have been difficult to climb in the best conditions let alone when trying to get away from a volcano in an ash fallout zone.

"I agree Lisa we can't go a farther downstream on this side. We'll have to backtrack and find a place to cross."

"Why don't we just cross here?" Lisa asked pointing to some rocks that were arrayed in the shallow river.

There were a million reasons not to cross here just like every other ford in the river up to this point. "Most of those rocks are partially submerged we need to go back and find a better place."

"Bert all of the rocks in this river are partially submerged. Here is as good as any to cross."

"But I'm not wearing shoes." Bert pointed to his feet. He like most people chose not to wear shoes except in those times when safety or decorum warranted it.

"Bert, climb up on my back," Lisa said.

Bert was slightly shocked, "Here?"

"I'll carry you across the river. I'm wearing shoes. My feet will be better protected."

"Oh, Okay, that makes more sense." Bert said slightly embarrassed.

"What did you think I meant?" Lisa asked as she bent down to let Bert on her back.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Bert was really eager for this conversation to end.

Fortunately Lisa had found something else to talk abut namely Bert's weight. "Jeez Bert, you need to lay off the peanut butter pie. You weigh a ton," Lisa complained as Bert climbed on her back.

"You weren't complaining last night." Bert deadpanned back.

"I was getting something out of it last night." Lisa deadpanned back. Both raccoons ended their conversation as Lisa began to cross the river. Lisa was hunched over with Bert on her back she used her tail as a counterweight to keep balance on the rocks. Bert assisted by using his own tail to help keep balance. Together they made their way across the rocks to the other side, almost. As Lisa stepped on the last rock before the shore the unstable rock shifted under their combined weight.

Lisa's left foot slipped into the shallow water up to her ankle and she immediately felt the burn as the highly diluted but still potent sulfuric acid began to eat away at her fur and skin. Lisa yowled in pain as her right foot also slid off the rock and into the acidic water. Bert swung himself off her back and onto the shore. He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and one of her suspenders and dragged her out of the water tossing her unceremoniously to the ground as she let out a string of verbal profanities that would make a sailor blush.

The entire incident was over in seconds but the damage had been done. Bert produced a knife and began to cut off Lisa's waterlogged shoes and socks. He gingerly had to touch the wet material to remove them from Lisa's feet and felt the burning sensation of the acid. Bert resisted the urge to put his fingers in his mouth as he cut away the last of the soaked material. He needed to irrigate the affected area and the only water he had available was their bottled drinking water.

Bert unscrewed the cap of the first bottle wincing in pain as the acid from Lisa's clothes was already burning his fingertips. He poured the water over his fingertips and onto Lisa's feet. Laboratory safety rules recommended fifteen minutes of irrigation with water. Bert and Lisa did not have that much water available he hoped the concentration of acid was low enough and the regulations overprotective enough that a full fifteen minutes would not be needed.

As their supply of bottled water ran out, Bert decided to save two bottles for drinking, Bert asked Lisa, "how do your legs feel?"

Lisa who had never really stopped her endless stream of profanities, tough she did slow down and moderate them some, replied, "they hurt like Hell but the burning has gone away."

Bert breathed a sigh of relief. The burning was a sign that the acid was reacting with the water in her skin. That that sensation and the thermal burns that would result from it was gone was a good sign.

Bert looked at their first aid kit. It was a typical camping fist aid kit without much in the way of intensive care for what would be considered a major injury. Lisa's feet were reddened with first degree burns and blisters and in some spots small trickles of red blood seeped out.

Bert regarded an unused tube of antibiotic burn cream it was not much but something was better than nothing. He squeezed the ointment onto his hands and gingerly spread it over her feet.

Lisa's reaction was needless to say predictable and Bert found himself on the receiving end of much verbal abuse mostly pertaining to his mother's canine ancestry or imploring him to do physical acts that were impossible.

Bert took the abuse in stride he knew Lisa was hurt and frustrated and did not mean it. One he had finished applying the ointment he began to wrap her feet with a roll of gauze. Lisa swore, winced and looked pained though it all was a bit less now. "Feel Better?" he asked her.

"No... a little," she responded.

"Good. Now we've got to get back to the Evergreen Forest."

"Bert, there is no way I can walk back."

Bert knew in her condition she was right but he knew that if he did leave Lisa his life would be very short at the hands of her mother. "Lisa, get on my back," Bert said as he crouched on the ground next to Lisa.

"Bert, you can't carry me back the whole way. We'll never make it. Go on without me."

"I'm not leaving you here. I can carry you back to town and get you checked out at the hospital."

"There's no way you..."

"Get on my back!" Bert commanded Lisa, "I said I'll carry you the rest of the way."

Lisa complied with Bert's order and got on his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and chest. As Bert slowly began to walk towards the Evergreen Forest Lisa twined her tail with his and whispered in his ear, "I kind of like being on top."

###

Bentley staggered into his house still in shock over the what had happened to Bert and Lisa. He could not believe they were gone. Bert was his best friend in the world and Lisa, even if she was annoying, was his sister. His mother sat on the couch in shock with pictures of Lisa arrayed around her. Melissa was trying to comfort Nicole though there was little she could do. "Mom," Bentley said, "I'm sorry..."

Nicole finally cracked a smile. Bentley was always the kind of child who would take far too much burden on himself. He needed to learn to relax and just be a kid while he still had the chance. "It is OK, Bentley. It is not your fault the volcano erupted."

Only to Bentley it was his fault. He designed the software to run Cyril and Cedric's waste disposal or if he had only tried harder to drive a wedge between Bert and Lisa.

A knock on the door brought Melissa to open it. She immediately knew it was the girl Bentley was with this morning. "Hello are you here to see Bentley?" Annie nodded in assent. "Bentley," Melissa called out, "you have a visitor."

Bentley was standing next to his mother and could very well see who had come to visit. He heaved a sigh of displeasure as his mother told him, "It is okay, Bentley, you can go with your friend. I'll be fine."

Bentley had hoped his mother would have wanted him to stay but it was obvious what she wanted was for him to go off with Annie. "Hey Annie," He said without any enthusiasm.

Both young raccoons left the living room and camped out on the front stoop. "I'm sorry about your sister, and Bert." Annie said trying to break the ice.

"Yeah, thanks." He answered back not bothering to look at her.

She tried again. "If you want we could go back to my house and watch 'Nazi Polar Bears from Outer Space.'"

"That movie is one of the worst pieces of cinematic dreck that was ever produced why would you want to watch it?"

"Because it is a blowhole of a movie that will be fun to make fun of and it will get your mind off of," Annie thought for a moment, "what's going on right now."

"Maybe I want my mind on what's going on right now."

"You can't blame yourself for this, Bentley. It's not your fault."

Bentley had decided he had heard that phrase for the last time. "How do you know it's not my fault? Maybe I dropped a bomb into the volcano and made it erupt."

Annie started to laugh Bentley had a good imagination she thought. Her laughter only irritated Bentley some more, "Fine believe what you want but I did it and I'm responsible. And I wouldn't want to watch that dumb movie with you if you were the last living thing on this planet!"

Bentley might as well have slapped Annie across the face for all of the hurt she felt at that moment. In fact she would rather have had Bentley slap her it would have been less painful. "Well then fine! Live in your little world where you control the weather! I don't know why I wanted to be your friend anyway!" Annie stormed off angry though her anger was quickly reduced to tears when she was sure she was out of earshot.

Bentley let out a sigh partially of relief but also of sadness. He hated to hurt her like that but she wouldn't leave him alone when he just wanted to mourn his best friend and his sister in peace.

"Hey loser!" the taunt of a familiar voice rang out. "We figured out what gay means. It means you don't like girls. You're gay!" Bentley's two schoolmates both broke into a fit of laughter and walked off together.

"I just got called gay by two guys who are queerer than three dollar bills," Bentley huffed to himself in disbelief. He decided to go back inside and try to get some sleep. He had to deliver the Standard tomorrow morning. He did not notice the small earthquake.

###

Cyril located the satellite phone behind the life sized poster of Ham Solo and brought it back to city hall where Mayor Baden-Baden, Schaeffer, George W. Bushytail and the city council were waiting. The pigs' satellite phone was an old model that would light up the area with electronic noise like a Christmas tree and alert every Predator drone in the area. Cyril secretly hoped one would take out this sorry excuse for a town government but he held his tongue.

Lady Baden-Baden picked up the receiver of the phone and dialed the number George W. Bushytail had given her. The phone rang several times before the pick up, "You have reached the Homeland Security Department, please note that our menu has changed. For English press 1, para la Espanol prensa 2, pour la Francais presse 3." Lady Baden-Baden couldn't figure out why Spanish was the 2nd option in Canada not that it mattered as she pressed the one key. "If you are being attacked by terrorists press 1, if you are a terrorist and would like to become an informant press 2, if you would like to take part in the Homeland Security Department's potluck social press 3, If you have squandered your Homeland Security Department grant and are now facing a natural disaster for which you are unprepared press 4." Lady Baden-Baden slapped her palm against her face. She really hated that last one, it made her sound like the mayor of New Orleans. Even so she pressed 4. "We're sorry all operators are away for the long holiday weekend. Please leave a message or call back on Tuesday at 8:00AM Eastern time." With that the phone disconnected leaving the Evergreen Forest just as bad off as before.

"What did they say Mayor Baden-Baden?" Schaeffer asked.

"Call back Tuesday," Lady Baden-Baden said as she placed the receiver back on the cradle of the phone.

Cyril grabbed the receiver from its cradle, "This is ridiculous! I'm calling someone who can help!" He began dialing.

General Cuddel was asleep behind his desk with his feet up. He was not expecting anything to happen over the long weekend since most of the base was off on leave. There were of course always a few men who would stick around for whatever reason and of course his loyal aide-de-camp Colonel Sanders who had a very good reason for wanting to be at base namely a wife and 13 children. After all that a tour in Afghanistan would be considered vacation.

The loud and annoying ring of his telephone woke him up. He immediately sat upright in his chair and answered the phone, "This is General Cuddel," he said emphasizing the long U sound of his name.

"General, this is Cyril Sneer. I disposed of your weapons."

"Yes, Mr. Sneer. How can I help you?"

"We need your help up here. We've had a volcanic eruption up here and have over 10,000 people trapped because the roads are out."

"I understand but without authorization. I cannot do anything. You do understand that."

"All I understand is that you have a missing nuclear warhead and I have a bunch of panicked people up here who are looking for terrorists this would be a bad thing if it hit the papers together, wouldn't it?"

General Cuddel grimaced with displeasure Cyril could spill the beans if things were that bad. He was also limited in what he could do legally, however, there was no law against taking a trip up there to look around. "Alright, I'll come up. Just keep our little secret a secret." With that General Cuddel hung the phone up. "Sanders!" He bellowed to his aide-de-camp, "get whoever is available mustered for a trip to the Evergreen Forest."

"Yes Sir!" the poodle officer saluted and left to find some men who were not doing anything.

###

Ralph rubbed his chin as he finished typing Bert's obituary. Normally it would fall to the next of kin to write it but communication out of the Evergreen Forest was still cut and even if it was open Bert never spoke much about his family and Ralph would not have been able to contact them anyways. Ralph saved the document he would have to wait until the official announcement of death to print it anyway.

"Ralph?" George Raccoon appeared at the door of the Evergreen Standard.

"Yeah George," Ralph waved him in without much enthusiasm it was hard to be cheery when you are writing an obituary.

"I brought over Lisa's information. Thanks for writing her obituary. You're much better at writing than I am and Nicole..." George trailed off.

"I know," Ralph tried to comfort his brother as best he could. George for his part was trying to hold himself together for the sake of both Nicole and Bentley. Nicole had gone to pieces when Schaeffer said there was no way to rescue them and Bentley seemed to be blaming himself for what had happened.

"It's just hard to believe she's gone."

"We're all in a state of shock, George." Ralph said as he put an arm around his brother. "I'm having the same problem getting over Bert too. He was like my little brother I mean we grew up together, we used to play together, all of us."

"Yeah, it's hard to believe the guy we used to play with as kids was dating my daughter." George picked up a paperweight from Ralph's desk. It was one of those clakers with five balls that would swing back and forth depending on how many balls you initially set in motion.

"I'm surprised you put up with it."

"Bert is," George put down the paperweight, "was a good guy. I trusted him. Plus Lisa really liked him."

"You're a good father, George. Much better than I would have been."

"Why do you say that."

"I would have killed Bert if he was dating my daughter."

"There are people who would probably have said you would be right to do that." George looked at his watch, "I better get back to my booth."

"And I have to take some of Bert's paperwork to the coroner."

Ralph placed the paperweight on Lisa's information then left with his brother George. Lisa's obituary could wait to be written. After the two raccoons left the Evergreen Standard building a small mostly imperceptible earthquake shock the area and the balls on the paperweight shook slightly.

###

General Cuddel and his platoon of men reached the end of the road going into the Evergreen Forest. Namely they had reached the point where the bridges were washed out. For them, however, it was no problem to cross. Their vehicles had been outfitted for the rugged terrain of Afghanistan where there were no roads so crossing the Evergreen River was a piece of cake.

Les than a half hour later the general and his entourage arrived at the Evergreen Forest town hall. The town was in a state of semi panic with have of the public going about their business and the other half on a snipe hunt for terrorists. Off in the background Mount Vulcan was spewing out a column of ash but otherwise looked quiet.

"What in blue blazes is going on in this town?"

"General Cuddel, finally some sanity is here." Cyril said shaking hands with the astonished general.

The rest of the town's council, the mayor and some assorted other officials including Schaefer and George W. Bushytail stood back. "Who is in charge here?" the general asked.

The town leadership hemmed and hawed and pointed to Lady Baden-Baden who suddenly realized she was being set up. Lady Baden-Baden's excellent political skills told her there was only one thing to do. Blame George W. Bushytail, "He is," she pushed him out as a sacrifice to the general.

"What!" The excitable squirrel said in shock.

"Well," the general said.

The squirrel began sweating and tugged at his collar. Behind him the town council urged him to cover up for their blunders. "Uh... ummm... everything's," he swallowed hard, "fine."

The general looked around at the people of the town who were either going about their business or organizing themselves into a militia to go after the terrorists then to the smoking visage of Mount Vulcan in the distance. "Good, if everything is fine. My men and I can take our leave." He then turned back toward his vehicle.

At this point the town council knew their only hope of getting out of this mess was leaving. "No, wait, stop," they cried and circled the general imploring him to stop. "The truth is we don't have the slightest clue what we are doing. We need help." One of the town councilmen finally admitted to what was patently obvious to anyone paying attention.

The general stopped , "There's nothing I can do. The civil authorities would have to declare a state of emergency before I could step in. And as far as I can tell that hasn't happened. So I will bid my farewell..."

"No, stop." The town council cried out again before immediately huddling and creating a resolution declaring a state of emergency in the Evergreen Forest. It was written on a napkin and passed on to Mayor Baden-Baden for her signature. She eagerly signed it and her power away.

"Here you go general," Mayor Baden-Baden handed over the napkin to General Cuddel.

"This is highly unorthodox but it will have to do." The general turned to his aide-de-camp, "Sanders, set up an HQ in the city hall. As for the rest of you lot I want the chief engineer and the chief law enforcement officer here immediately." The general walked into city hall still barking orders to the colonel.

###

The general sat behind Mayor Baden-Baden's desk as he looked at the town's engineer and police chief. Both the elderly otter engineer and Schaeffer the town's acting police chief looked worried. The town councilmen and mayor Baden-Baden sat off to the side looking as impotent as their performance up to this point had shown. To the side both the poodle colonel and George W. Bushytail watched in silence.

"We have how many people in this town right now?" the general asked Schaeffer.

Schaeffer cleared his throat, "roughly 11,000 if our gate count is correct. There are also roughly 1,000 permanent and part time residents according to the last census. A total of roughly 12,000."

"12,000 you have 12,000 people in a trap with no where to go."

"We think the province can bring up temporary bridging equipment by Monday." The elderly Otter said.

"Assuming you can get government workers to come in on a holiday to set it up." The general said. "What about food how are you going to feed all of these people?"

"We have food for the festival." Schaeffer started.

"Until when?"

"Monday."

"And after that?" Schaeffer said nothing because he had no response to give. "And what about power what is keeping the lights on?"

"We have a power plant." Said the chief engineer.

"And what does it run on?"

"Coal," the engineer started before realizing where the general was going, "that we have trucked in."

"And how much coal do you have in stock?"

"A three day supply, that we last had replenished Friday."

"In other words you are going to run out of coal and power on Monday." the general said gentlemen I don't think you have any idea what a precarious predicament you are in. Where are these people going to stay tonight? Do you have enough lodging for all of them?"

"We have lodging for about 2500 people all year there are some ski lodges that are shut down during the summer that we can open. That would provide lodging for an additional 1200." Schaeffer said.

"Even if we don't count children who would be lodged with their parents, there are still thousands without shelter for the night. What are we going to do with them?" The general asked.

"We do have campgrounds. They may not be ideal but something is better than nothing."

"What about the power supply?" The general switched topics.

"We will have to do rolling brownouts or blackout parts of the area to conserve coal." The old otter engineer said.

"It might be a good idea to keep the fall festival running. If for nothing else it can serve as a diversion and keep people occupied." Shaffer interjected.

"That's probably a good idea. Bread and circuses have kept mobs quiet throughout history no reason it can't work now."

"What abut the local militias that have organized to look for terrorists?" Schaeffer asked.

"We'll have to round them up and bring them back to town. They're more likely to hurt themselves or get lost in the forest than find a terrorist." Their conversation was interrupted by a very displeased sounding local.

"I want to know what is going on here!" Ralph part asked part demanded as he burst pat the german shepard auxiliary into the town hall in search of the town coroner.

"I am sorry sir! He got past me!" The elderly soldier said as he saluted the general.

The general saluted and then got up from behind the mayor's desk, "Who are you?" the general asked as he walked around the desk to meet Ralph.

"Ralph Raccoon, editor of the Evergreen Standard . Who are you?"

"I'm General Cuddel, I'm in charge here."

"Under whose authority?"

General Cuddel produced the napkin, "Your mayor's. She signed a state of emergency."

Ralph read the napkin in disbelief then looked to the mayor and council. Suddenly he realized that this was all to real. "Well what are you going to do?"

"I am assuming control of this town in order to safeguard the people in it."

Ralph knew the general had the authority to do so at least temporarily until civil authorities could retake control but the reporter in him wanted to know the rest. "What are your immediate plans?"

"I am instituting a dusk to dawn curfew and instituting rolling blackouts for non priority areas until the people in this town can be safely evacuated."

"And how are you going to enforce a curfew with out the manpower to enforce it?"

"We'll just draft it. Consider yourself drafted."

"You can't do that."

"I just did."

"I'll have you know that I protested the last war." Ralph cast a glance at the .50 cal on top of the armored car.

"I'll let you ride on top with the .50 cal," the general started then looked around for Ralph, "hey where'd that little raccoon guy go?"

The general turned to look outside at sound of a horn beeping. Ralph had already ensconced himself in the gunner's seat and was pressing his foot on the horn, "Come on. Let's get going. Time's wasting." Ralph beeped the horn again with his foot.

The general turned to his aide-de-camp, "be sure to deactivate the trigger on that thing . I don't want that crazy hippie killing someone."

###

At dusk just outside of town a group of men armed with pitchforks and blunt instruments were beating the forest looking for terrorist they were sure were there or they were sure that were not too far from the road they were following after all they did not want to get lost. The leader of the group was a cigar smoking skunk in camouflage fatigues with a rifle. He was barking orders to the others who listened to him not because he was any kind of legitimate leader but because he was acting like one.

Even so as twilight was approaching his makeshift militia was having second thoughts about traipsing about the entire Evergreen Forest looking for terrorists especially at night when it was getting chilly. "C'mon Sean, it's getting late. My wife will kill me if I don't get back before dark." One of the militia members, a stoat, complained several others echoed his sentiment.

The cigar chomping skunk took issue with his men's softness, "do you think terrorists complain about the cold and the dark!" He got nose to nose with the stoat who had complained and puffed a cloud of smoke in his face.

"Maybe," the stoat who complained choked out in fear.

"What's that?" the skunk asked as he scanned the ridge before spying something moving. He used his rifle's telescopic scope and spotted something moving on the ridge. It appeared to be someone carrying a large heavy load. "Gentlemen we just found ourselves a terrorist," he brought his finger to the trigger.

###

As the sun was lowering to the horizon Bert and Lisa were making their way back to town. Bert was exhausted he had been carrying Lisa all afternoon and even though he took frequent breaks to rest the trip was taking a real toll on his body. He was not even sure he was going in the right direction until he reached a small ridge and saw the lights of town off in the distance.

The sight of civilization brought joy to both raccoons. "Oh, thank heavens I can't wait to get back to town," Lisa finally showed some excitement she had been depressed since she had burned her feet.

The ring of a gun shot and the popping sound of a bullet passing by too close for comfort ended the excitement for the moment. Bert quickly as he could ducked back behind the ridge trying to get away from the lunatic that was shooting at them. He serpentined until he made it to an outcropping of large rocks where he figured they would be safe. "Lisa we'll have to stay here until dark. Hopefully that nut will lose interest in us by then. After that we can make it to town."

"In the dark, Bert?"

"I saw a road while we were up on the ridge. We can just follow it until we reach town."

###

Ralph, the general, the colonel rode in one armored car while Schaefer, a soldier and the german shepard auxiliary were patrolling in a second armored car when they heard a shot ring out. The colonel stepped on the gas until they reached a group of men one of whom was armed.

Schaeffer got out of the cars first as the town's acting chief of police it was his responsibility to affect any arrest. "Okay what are you all up to?" he asked the crowd.

"We're hunting terrorists. In fact we got one up on that ridge." The cigar smoking skunk pointed to the ridge.

Schaeffer scanned the ridge but saw nothing, "So you did discharge that weapon. Why don't you come along with me." Schaeffer hoped the skunk would be reasonable.

Reasonable was not in the skunk's name, "And why should I do that? For all I know you could be terrorists too." The skunk brought his rifle around though he did not point it at Schaeffer who was unarmed. He was the part time chief of police in a town without much crime what did he need a weapon for?

The sound of a gun bolt being pulled back and Ralph's voice saying, "You might want to do what he says because I have a bigger gun."

When the skunk saw a .50 cal being pointed directly at him the look on his face turned from confidence to panic the cigar he had in his mouth dropped to the ground and a raspberry sound indicated some involuntary bodily function had triggered and everyone near him moved away. Except for poor Schaeffer who had to arrest him much to his displeasure.

Schaeffer restrained the skunk and marched him towards the general's armored car. The generals remarks were, "Hold it there soldier put him in your car. Sanders lets finish patrolling." With those remarks the general's car drove off.

Schaeffer put the now very aromatic skunk into the back of his car. The got in the car as well. "Somebody roll down a window," he said.

"Somebody roll down all the vindows," the german shepard auxiliary said in reply.

###

Bentley sat in a field feeling sorry for himself he wished things could go back to the way they were before he blew up the forest. While he contemplated his guilt he saw first Bert and then Lisa emerge from the woods. Overjoyed he ran to them hugging both repeating over and over how happy he was that they were still alive.

"We're not alive, Bentley. You killed us remember." His sister said is a voice more reminiscent of a scary movie that a heartwarming reunion. To his shock both Bert and Lisa turned into zombies or ghouls or some kind of undead creatures.

In horror Bentley backed away from them then took off running at full speed away from them. For undead creatures Bert and Lisa were amazingly fast. Bentley made a beeline for the first place of safety he could find, Annie's house. He desperately hoped she would let him in.

He banged on the door, "Annie, please let me in!"

Annie opened the door, "What do you want?"

"Bert and Lisa have come back but they want to kill me. Please let me stay here."

Annie spoke again but this time her voice took on a demonic sound, "I don't blame them for wanting to kill you. You killed us all." She jumped at him with all her very sharp feral teeth bared.

"Ahhhhhh!" Bentley shot straight up as he awoke from his nightmare. "I hope this is sweat," he said as he patted himself down. He looked over at his clock to see what time it was but the clock was blank, "great a power failure. And I still have to deliver the paper."

Bentley slowly got dressed in his regular blue shirt and made his way downstairs. His house was quiet save for the slight snoring of his mother who was asleep on the couch still surrounded by pictures of Lisa. Bentley looked away from her he knew she wouldn't blame him for the volcano erupting but in the back of his mind the thought was still there, if he hadn't made that stupid waste disposal system Bert and Lisa would be coming back tomorrow.

Bentley walked out the front door of his house the morning air was cool and crisp but sunny. The only blemish was a cloud of ash and smoke still coming from the summit of Mount Vulcan and even that was smaller today than yesterday. Mount Vulcan, it appeared, was settling down and going back to sleep. Bentley cursed the mountain it had ruined his life taking his sister and his best friend from him and put the entire onus of obtaining his mother's prized grandchildren on him, he was barely thirteen.

Sunday delivery of the Evergreen Standard along with apparently everyday hereafter fell to Bentley. Unlike yesterday Bentley didn't have the enthusiasm to deliver the paper nor did he have the help of Annie who despite being annoying was a big help.

Bentley picked up the Sunday edition of the Evergreen Standard the lead story above the fold was about the volcano and included his and Annie's interview with Ralph. Bentley sighed as he packed up the papers into the paper carrier bags attached them to his bike and rode off. While delivering the papers a series of small earthquakes shook the Evergreen Forest almost no one noticed them.

###

Deep inside Mount Vulcan the rock that had plugged up the volcano was slowly melting away. It was essentially acting like a plug holding back water in a bathtub. Except the water in this bathtub was molten rock and it was slowly eating away at the plug even as it was filling the bathtub to capacity. As the plug was melted away stress on it increased and it began to crack until it finally broke away entirely allowing the volcano to resume its natural cycle.

###

Annie stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom. She had not slept that night alternating between anger and sadness at the way Bentley had treated her. All she wanted to do was be friends, and maybe more in the future, but no Bentley had to ruin it by being a jerk. She turned on her side and looked at a raccoon plush toy she had since she was a little girl. The toy wore a blue shirt with a heart print on the front. His arms were open in anticipation of a friendly hug.

Recently she had taken to calling the plush toy Bentley and would snuggle with it, hug it, even sleep with it. Now it was the outlet for her anger absorbing the punches, kicks and bites she could not deliver to Bentley himself.

Still the plush raccoon toy extended its arms in a welcoming hug mocking her. "I hate you Bentley Raccoon!" she shouted at the plush toy grabbing it by one of its black paws and hurled it at the wall. The toy hit the wall with a dull thud and bounced off and back towards her bed stopping next to it with its arms still extended in a welcoming hug. Annie began to cry she was just like that toy no matter how poorly treated she would willingly take him back. Slowly she rolled off the bed and onto the floor embraced the plush toy and curled up into a ball not noticing the small earthquake that rumbled beneath her.

###

The build up of magma in the volcano had strained the mountain to the breaking point causing many bulges and fissures especially towards the summit. The summit of the mountain was now being held up by the magma in the magma chamber and when that began to drain out the summit collapsed into the volcano.

As the summit collapsed from the other end of the volcano gases and steam had built up behind the plug. When the plug collapsed the magma behind it wanted to go down and the gases wanted to go up. As these two forces fought they were tearing the mountain to pieces. Mount Vulcan was about to erupt for the last time.

###

Bentley rode towards Annie's house he tried to steel himself up for what he expected to be a rather stormy meeting he noticed a gaze of feral raccoons running towards and then into a hollow fallen tree. He shook his head ferals had it so much easier they didn't have to deal with girls except maybe once a year. Feral raccoons unlike their sapient cousins generally were loners and kept to themselves so seeing a gaze together was unusual. Just like the fact that there weren't any birds singing and the barking of dogs all over the forest. Bentley turned his head to Mount Vulcan and watched its summit collapse then get blown back out in a terrific blast. The volcano's side crumbled blowing outward and leveling part of the forest with a wall of superheated gas and steam in way only the most unscrupulous lumber baron would find heartwarming.

Bentley took off in the direction of Annie's house which was like his own and his Aunt and Uncle's namely a large evergreen tree with a front door and windows attached. Bentley was hoping she wouldn't hate him to the point she wouldn't let him take shelter.

Mount Vulcan had other plans for Bentley. As the summit collapsed into a caldera the volcanic gases and steam rose up and blew out huge quantities of molten rock. Most fell on the mountain itself but on amorphous blob was ejected at the right angle to take it over the Evergreen Forest city limits. Traveling faster than the speed of sound it traced along a perfect arc and began its descent into the town towards one of the many treehouse houses, towards the one Bentley was making his way to.

When Bentley finally got within sight of Annie's house he stopped to catch his breath. The next thing he knew he was on his back spitting out dirt while his ears were ringing as if he had been firing artillery all day. Bentley turned his head to find his bearings only to see that Annie's house had been reduced to matchsticks.

To Be Continued


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: The Raccoons and all associated characters are the property of Evergreen Raccoons Marketing and have been used without permission. Unless otherwise stated, any character not from the Raccoons television series is mine but may be used if requested. The following is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. This work is solely for the entertainment of the author and his readers and no money is either being or to be made from this work.

The Raccoons

Trapped on Mount Vulcan

Chapter 6

Another small blob of molten rock arced its way down and into the festival ground. It scored a direct hit on a festival booth and ignited the propane tanks destroying the booth and everything in it. Fortunately the owners were not in it at the time but passers-by who were either setting up their booths or getting an early start on the festival were and many took shrapnel as the booth and its fuel source exploded.

Screams of both terror and pain echoed throughout the fairgrounds as fires broke out all over and booths collapsed trapping victims within the ruins. The survivors emerged shell shocked from their own booths and began to try to assist their neighbors by digging them out. No good deed would go unpunished as the ash cloud expanded from the volcano to the town as the last of the victims were pulled from the wreckage.

It was George Raccoon who was in the thick of things here. He was fortunate that his booth was not hit while others around him were. Panic had already set in and the vendors and early fairgoers who were not trying to help their fellow citizens were in flight looking for shelter.

"Get them to the pavilion, we'll be safer there!" George shouted to a group of people who had dragged some unfortunate soul out of a collapsed booth. "Somebody call for help; an ambulance, anything!"

"Sir," one of his show's employees said, "there is no cell phone service."

"Then call from a land line!" George shouted back as another booth's propane tanks exploded.

The people who were running about in panic finally began to head for the fairground's most secure building when they saw other calmer, more rational people going into it. This was the pavilion. It was hard to believe this was the festival where a dance was held just the previous night.

George Raccoon was no leader; he was a chef and not even a master chef. As much as he would have loved to be in charge of his own kitchen, he knew from a lifetime of experience that he did not have what it took to run one. That was the reason he uprooted his entire family to come to the Evergreen Forest. He had failed to take over as the head chef when the restaurant he worked at had its previous chef leave and the owner closed it down. The best part of being a chef on a cooking show was that there were directors, producers and an army of others to tell you what to do. Now all of a sudden because he told some people what to do everyone was looking to him for leadership.

People were still crying for help throughout the fairgrounds. At best the help being rendered was quite mishmashed. If you were lucky enough to be trapped where someone had the presence of mind to be able to help you, you would get help if you wanted it or not. Finally George took a stand, "I'll go to the Homeland Security booth to get whatever from there that will help us. We'll dig out anyone who is trapped." Much to his surprise his show's staff nodded in agreement and followed him.

By now it was abundantly clear that the town's council and mayor had abandoned their duties and had retreated to a bunker under the city hall. Unfortunately no one told the frightened civilians and guests who had decided to congregate at the booth and were waiting for someone to tell them what to do. George could not believe his eyes. Most of these people were not lemmings he would have thought; they might take shelter on their own but that was too much to ask apparently. "What are you people doing?" he asked in astonishment.

"We are waiting for instructions from the authorities." One of the crowd, a beaver, answered back as he tried to calm his apparent wife who was a yellow weasel with two young children: one a girl beaver, the other a boy weasel hugging close to her.

George took a short look at the volcano. Its summit had collapsed and an ominous cloud was now heading in their direction. "Well I'm in charge. Go to the pavilion and wait there." He watched in amazement as the crowd did exactly as they were told; then he grabbed what was in the booth that might be useful, which considering what the town had purchased was not much.

He took the surgical masks, some of the plastic sheets and a few rolls of duct tape and left most of the rest. Then he turned back to the pavilion. As he walked back he heard an explosion and guessed that it had been close by. "I hope Nicole and the kids are okay," he said to himself not thinking that Lisa was already presumed dead. Little did he realize that behind him a lava bomb had hit the Homeland security booth and if he had not evacuated the crowd there would have been numerous deaths.

###

Bentley ran as fast as he could to where Annie's house used to stand. A look of horror crossed his face as he saw what appeared to be Annie's curled up body partially buried in debris with her head under a very large and heavy looking support beam. "Annie, are you okay? Say you're okay, are you okay, Annie?" Bentley cried out as he made his way to her body.

To his horror he saw blood, a lot of it, staining her blue overalls and shirt. The heavy beam had fallen onto her bed and the floor of her room but she appeared to be stuck in a small triangular space between the bed and the floor. Whether she was still alive was another matter. "Annie, please say something!" he shouted to her prostrate form.

"Help! Help! Someone please, help!" he shouted to no avail as there apparently were no neighbors in the vicinity, so Bentley tried his cell phone. Still no signal. "Dammit!" he cursed as now he knew there was only one way to free her.

Bentley put his arms around the beam and tried to lift it. Not succeeding, he repositioned himself and tried again; this time the beam moved a little. Bentley promised whatever entity that was in control of this universe that he would not treat Annie bad ever again if he could just move the beam off her head.

The beam finally moved in a fit of super raccoon strength he managed to pick the beam up enough to free her. With the beam moved he knelt down to see if she was at least still alive. "Annie?"

Annie opened her eyes and saw three Bentleys. Her initial thought was of what she could do with three Bentleys. "Bentley?" she spoke in a weak response, which was music to his ears.

"Yes," he said in reply.

"I hate you."

Bentley began to choke ever so slightly as he said back to her, "I hate you too." He examined her for wounds, noticing a small gash on her forehead just under where her longer head fur began. It was probably caused when the beam fell on her and was the reason for all the blood. "Can you walk?"

"I think so," she tied to get up but was too dizzy and fell into Bentley's arms. "Maybe not."

That's when Bentley decided to carry her out of the ruins of her house, with her blood staining his baby blue golf shirt.

The sky had darkened ominously as the thick cloud of ash billowed overhead blocking out the sun. The bright midmorning quickly turned as dark as midnight and the town's streetlights began to come on. That gave an eerie glow as ash slowly began to fall from the sky. This time the Evergreen Forest was not going to be spared.

Ash was falling out of the sky and Bentley buried his face into his shirt to keep from breathing the deadly pulverized rock. Unfortunately, Bentley did not have anything for Annie to cover her face with except his sleeve, which pretty much meant she ended up walking the entire way to the hospital with her face in his armpit. Bentley really wished he hadn't skipped that shower this morning.

###

Volcanic bombs rained down on Evergreen Forest sending people into panicked flight. The town's civil defense force, which was now augmented by some military units, had spent the entire night chasing curfew violators. By morning they were exhausted.

The town's few jail cells had been filled with curfew violators; mostly men who had decided to keep drinking even after the general had imposed a curfew. The Evergreen Forest's tiny police force would likely just lose the paperwork after the fact, effectively wiping the violation from the offender's record. This would save the Evergreen Forest from having to pay the costs of prosecution, incarceration, and follow up legal expenses; not that Schaeffer or anyone else was going to tell them that, yet.

The volcano erupting again alerted most of the overworked soldiers and civilians who were either sleeping or trying to rest their eyes. They all had a long day yesterday and were hoping that today would be quiet. The explosions raining down on the town belied that hope.

"What's going on!" the bulldog general asked, as he was jolted out of his sleep.

"The Allies are attacking but vil never break through the Hindenburg Line!" the german shepherd war veteran shouted to no one in particular.

"It's the big one!" Ralph said as he watched the lava bombs come down and a massive cloud of ash blow out of the collapsing summit of the mountain. The ominous cloud was slowly making its way towards the town. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled as the cloud grew ever larger over the Evergreen Forest and ash began to precipitate out.

"We need to get everyone out of this stuff and into shelter," the general said.

"Shelter won't do them any good if the roof falls down on them. We are going to have to shovel ash off the roof or people will get hurt or worse." Ralph reasoned it would not be long before the roofs began to collapse under the weight of the volcanic ash. It may have looked light and fluffy but it was still rock.

"Breathing in that stuff is impossible," Schaeffer said.

"But we do have surgical masks. You know the stuff we paid for with our, uh, grant." Ralph stuck that last part in as a dig but the masks would provide protection.

"Well those things were made for suppressing the spreading of germs; volcanic ash would be larger than that," Schaeffer said in his defense.

"But we are too short staffed to cover the entire town," the general put in.

"The prisoners. We can use them," Ralph then looked to the over-crowded jail cells.

"Alright, deputize them. We've got a lot of work to do," as the general agreed.

"Alright folks," Schaeffer began, " if you want to have your curfew violation records cleared, we need volunteers to shovel ash off of the roofs of houses and buildings. Any takers?" Needless to say everyone was interested in having their curfew violations removed.

###

Prior to the eruption, Melissa had come over to help her sister-in-law deal with the death of her daughter. She had brought Broo with her because he was acting crazy and she thought maybe he needed to get out of the raccoondominum as that was something he wasn't getting enough of in the wake of Bert's death. Broo did seem to calm down a little as he got some attention from Nicole who needed the pick me up but soon he began to bark and growl at seemingly nothing in particular. Then Mount Vulcan blew its top.

The eruption of the volcano moved the two raccoons to call out for Bentley to come take shelter with them on the ground floor. His failure to answer and the knowledge that he was doing Bert's paper route lead them to the awful realization that he was outside and in danger.

Nicole first attempted to call Bentley on his cell phone but there was no service, no matter how hard she mashed the buttons on her own phone. She then tossed the worthless phone and ran to get a coat and scarf out of the closet. If she could not call Bentley she would go out and find him herself.

"Nicole! Stop!" as Melissa tried to reason with her distraught sister-in-law, "You don't know where he is!"

Nicole glared at Melissa. "I have already lost one child! I will not lose the other!" She wrapped a scarf around her muzzle and walked out the door.

###

George W. Bushytail, Schaeffer, General Cuddle and Ralph poured over a map of the Evergreen Forest along with a small number of civilians as Felix Steiner, the town's chief engineer, was briefing military people who would be acting as unit commanders. He was pointing out the areas where ash fall was the greatest. "The fallout is severely affecting operations in this area to the north of town and is now blanketing the area to the west where the railroad tracks are. Conditions along the line are now impassible even if the trestle bridge was in working order. Road communications were severed by flood yesterday and remain impassible and we have civilian refugees occupying all hotel spaces in these areas to the east of town as well as the hospital, the town hall, the fairgrounds, and any scattered place parking was permitted."

"Can we keep the roads open at least locally?" George W. Bushytail asked. "To keep emergency vehicles operating."

"We can as long as our equipment holds out. That ash will ruin the engines in a short time," Steiner, the town chief engineer answered.

"Is there any way to filter out the ash? There's no sense in turning our emergency equipment to scrap metal," Schaeffer asked the assembled.

"Panty hose," said the general, "when faced with dusty conditions in combat we sometimes had to use improvised materials."

"But who is going to get them? The only store in town is Mr. Willow's General Store." Ralph asked the group who hemmed and hawed, with no one wanting to be the one to obtain them.

"It sounds," said the general, "like you know where to get them."

Ralph suddenly realized he just got volunteered.

###

Down in her bunker Mayor Lady Baden-Baden sat at a desk with a small retinue of her city council and a few other town officials who were left with nothing to do. They poured over a map of the Evergreen Forest attempting to show the mayor the precarious situation she was in.

One of the town's councilmen was briefing Mayor Baden-Baden by pointing out the areas where ash fall was the greatest. "The fallout is severely affecting operations in this area to the north of town and is now blanketing the area to the west where the railroad tracks are. Conditions along the line are now impassible even if the trestle bridge was in working order. Road communications were severed by flood yesterday and remain impassible and we have civilian refugees occupying all hotel spaces in these areas to the east of town as well as the hospital, the town hall, the fairgrounds, and any scattered place parking was permitted."

"None of this matters. Steiner will have the roads open soon."

"Mayor Baden-Baden. Steiner... Steiner..."

"Steiner has been working with the military commander; he is no longer following your orders."

Mayor Baden-Baden grabbed at her glasses. Her hands were shaking violently as she pulled them off of her face. "Everyone but councilmen Keitel, Jodl, Krebs, and Burgdorf please leave the room."

The small number of hangers-on left the room and closed the door behind them. Lady Baden-Baden was about to launch into a monologue, "That was an order! That was an order! Am I to believe that when I give orders that they will not be followed? What kind of municipal employees do we have that cannot follow a simple order?"

"So this is what it has come to. My workers have been lying to me. Everyone has been lying to me!"

"Our town's leaders are just a bunch of contemptible, disloyal cowards!" Lady Baden got up from her chair and began to point and gesture at the remaining councilmen.

"Mayor Baden-Baden I must protest, you cannot blame the workers for..."

"Our leadership is the scum of the Evergreen people!" Lady Baden-Baden threw a pen onto the Evergreen Forest map on her desk. "Not a shred of honor!"

"You call yourselves leaders! Years at elite academies to learn to eat correctly with a knife and fork?"

"For years the council has hindered my plans! They put every obstacle in my way!"

"I should have replaced all of them, like Stalin!"

Lady Baden-Baden sat down in her chair but continues her rant. "I could have gone and seen all of Europe, by myself."

"Traitors. I have been betrayed and deceived from the very beginning."

"What a monstrous betrayal of the Evergreen people. But all those traitors will pay. They will pay with their own blood. They shall drown in their own blood!" A couple of the councilmen tugged at their collars.

Outside the door one of the town's secretaries was sobbing while the other tried to comfort her. Mr. Knox also came down into the bunker to see what his wife was raving about.

After a brief silence Lady Baden-Baden continued, "My orders have fallen on deaf ears. Under these circumstances I am no longer able to lead."

"It's over"

"This town is lost"

"But if you think I will leave Evergreen you are mistaken. I'd rather blown my brains out."

"Do whatever you like."

###

The town's 911 dispatcher was a single, elderly female weasel. Right now she was trying to keep an overburdened 911-dispatch board together as people from all over the forest were calling for help. "911, what's your emergency?" after a slight pause, "please calm down Mr. Raccoon."

That name perked Ralph's ears. "Give me that line, you take the other calls." Ralph pressed a headset to one of his pointy ears. "George is that you?"

"Ralph, thank heavens. I'm at the fairgrounds, people are hurt, and we got hit by lava from the volcano. Can you guys send ambulances? We're trapped in the pavilion at the fairgrounds, so we can't go outside because of the ash."

"George, try to keep everyone calm. We are going to send ambulances as soon as we can. Unfortunately we only have two and there are calls from all over the forest. What are the most severe injuries?"

"We have a few people who are burned and some who got hit by shrapnel. Ralph, it looks like a war zone out here. I don't know what to do. People want to know when help will arrive." George whispered the last two sentences as if he were trying to hide his uncertainty from someone.

"George, you have to keep calm. For better or worse you are in charge; if you act like it you can keep others from panicking, which is the last thing we need now." Ralph could hear his brother breathing heavily trying to calm himself.

Finally George regained his composure, "we'll keep them in line. Wish me luck."

"Good luck George, and take care," Ralph cut the line. "Dispatch ambulances to the fairgrounds when you can."

"Sir, we have calls for help from all over the forest. People are hurt or trapped; sometimes both and we only have two ambulances."

"Just do what you can as quickly as possible." Ralph then shook his head. "We are so unprepared."

###

Mr. Willow was on top of his roof sweeping ash off with a broom. He was wearing a makeshift mask around his nose and mouth to keep from breathing in the ash. When the volcano erupted he was just opening his general store. The customers who were desperate for whatever supplies he might still have went into panic buying mode knowing that what little the town had in stock was going to be depleted. Some of course were hoping to have a stockpile of their own that they could sell to the desperate survivors.

By the time the customers had left with almost anything of value, Ralph and a military platoon pulled up to the store. Ash was just beginning to precipitate out of the sky. "Mr. Willow," he said, "we need to requisition anything that might be needed for survival."

"Well you are welcome to take what you need but I don't have much left. I've been sold out of almost everything since last night and what little I did have left with my last customers. I'm out of food, bottled water, alcohol, personal care, condoms, and feminine hygiene products; just about the only things I have left are skateboards and Mudman comics."

"Do you have stockings and panty hose?" Ralph asked.

Mr. Willow looked at the assembled soldiers and other men. "Yes, I do." That was one of the few things he still had in stock. "And what you do with them is no business of mine. I mean it's not my thing but, hey, don't ask don't tell. Right?"

Ralph smacked his face. He didn't need Mr. Willow thinking he was a cross dresser; Bert's exploits in that arena were bad enough. "Not for us! For the vehicles. If we put them over the air filters it will add another layer of protection for the engines."

"Of course it will." Mr. Willow packed up as much of the hosiery as he could into some shopping bags; he would charge the town for them later. "Oh and Ralph, don't worry, I won't tell Melissa."

"Thank you." Ralph sensed Mr. Willow was enjoying this way too much.

###

Nicole dashed about as quickly as she could trying to find Bentley, asking anyone she could find. This was becoming more difficult as the ash began settling out until she finally collapsed as she neared town.

A patrol of soldiers and the civilian auxiliaries happened across her soon afterwards. "Sir, we have a casualty!" the elderly german shepherd said, his voice muffled by the surgical mask he wore to keep from breathing the ash.

"Bring him inside the car, call an ambulance."

"Sir the subject is female."

"The ambulances are busy it will be a while before they can get to us."

"We'll take her there ourselves then."

He keyed the mic, "we have a casualty here. Female raccoon, mid-thirties. Probably ash inhalation. We are taking her to the hospital."

"Roger that."

###

In the hospital, Bentley leaned back against a wall and slid down onto a bench. He was trying to be as out of the way as possible. The hospital was bustling with both wounded patients and people who had taken refuge in the well-built building. He did not know where they had taken Annie. After he told them what happened they had taken her away, presumably for stitches for the cut on her head and observation for a concussion. The hospital staff's concern over him disappeared when he said that the blood on his shirt was hers, not his.

"Are you all right?" a strangely familiar voice asked.

"I'm all right," Bentley answered, not looking up.

"Do you want a drink of water?" the voice asked.

Bentley knew not to accept anything from strangers so he decided to decline. "No, I'm," he looked up to the person he was talking to. "Bert!" Bentley jumped up and hugged Bert, "I thought you were dead."

"Are you kidding? It would take more than a volcano to finish off Bert Raccoon."

"Bert, where's Lisa?"

Bert's expression changed slightly, "she was injured but will be fine. Do you want to see her?"

A smile came to Bentley's face as he realized that Lisa was still alive, "yes, I want to see her."

Bert and Bentley walked down the hallway to the room Lisa was staying in. She was sitting up in her bed though she was sedated. "Lisa?" Bentley asked his resting sister.

Lisa's eyes opened, "hey little brother. I never thought I would be happy to see you." Lisa was obviously still groggy from the sedative.

"Oh Lisa, I'm glad you're alive." Bentley hugged his sister.

"Hey, be careful there I'm wounded you know."

"Sorry Lisa," Bentley sniffed, "I'm just, really happy to see you."

"The feeling is mutual this time." Lisa pushed him away slightly to get a good look at him. "Jeez Bentley, you're covered in blood. What happened?"

"Don't worry it's not my blood it's..."

"Here you are," Annie said from the doorway.

"Hers," he noticed she now sported a bandage over her stitches. "Hi Annie, are you alright?" Bentley shifted his attention from his sister to Annie.

Annie cast her eyes up towards the stitches. "I'm okay. I'll probably have a scar under my fur for the rest of my life. I can't wait to show it to my grandkids."

Lisa rolled her eyes, "Oh god, another one like mom."

"C'mon, they're going to open up the vending machines to give candy to the kids. We have to hurry if we want to get some."

"Okay," Bentley said as Annie grabbed his hand and tugged him in the direction of the vending machines, "how did you find me so quick?"

"I had my nose in your armpit the whole way here. I can find you from the other side of the planet from now on." The two juvenile raccoons disappeared through the doorway in search of free candy.

"Okay, what just happened?" Lisa asked Bert.

"It looks like Bentley has a girlfriend now."

"How long was I out? And did you save me just to suffer through the Apocalypse?"

Bert looked out the window. The noontime sun was nowhere to be seen. Instead, volcanic ash was floating down obscuring the only apparent light from the streetlights. "I think I might have."

"Pardon me," a feline nurse said as she wheeled in another patient, "I hope you two don't mind some company. We're running out of places to put people."

"Mom, Nicole!" Lisa and Bert shouted respectively as they saw who the patient was.

Nicole turned to face them from behind an oxygen mask. She had breathed in some of the ash while searching for Bentley and had been rescued by a patrol as she collapsed on the side of the road.

Nicole for the first time in two days felt relieved. "Bert, Lisa, my grandchildren, you're all in one piece." Nicole coughed hoarsely.

"Technically, mom, your grandchildren are still in two pieces." Lisa looked at Bert while she patted her belly. "Though I don't know what Bentley has been up to."

"I wish I could just find Bentley. I lost him and do not know where he is." Nicole swallowed hard worried about the safety of her youngest child.

"Bentley?" Bert asked then answered his question, "he and his girlfriend went downstairs to get free candy out of the vending machine.

"Really, girlfriend?" Nicole started, "and here I thought he said he didn't like her. Excellent," Nicole steepled her fingers.

Bert and Lisa looked at each other, neither one understood what was going on. They hoped that when all this was sorted out there would be a clearer picture.

###

George Raccoon had instructed the people who were now under his nominal control to begin triage. Anyone who was too severely injured for basic first aid was prepared for transport to the hospital, for whenever the ambulances could arrive. Those that were not injured were put to work either keeping children calm and in line, taking turns sweeping the heavy, pulverized rock off of the roof, or covering up any holes in the pavilion with the duct tape and plastic sheets. George still could not believe that stuff was useful.

Finally after what seemed like hours, because it was, there was a knock on the pavilion's main door. Help had finally arrived.

"It's about time you guys got here," George kidded his younger brother, "look at you; from hippie to National Guard. What happened?"

"Very funny, George. A natural disaster happened. Speaking of which, who organized all this?" George smacked his chest with his fist. Ralph was incredulous, "you organized, this? I can't believe it."

"Hey!"

"I mean the last thing you lead was my Junior Raccoon Scouts hike and we got lost in the forest for three days."

"Someone had to take charge and I guess that someone was me," George said proudly.

"Well you did an excellent job. Almost everywhere else has been a disaster. That's why it took us so long to get here. Just a few formalities; did you have any deaths?"

George thought of his daughter for the first time since the crisis began this morning. "No, no deaths here. As far as I know we got everyone who was buried under rubble."

Ralph made a weak smile, "We were fortunate. So far there have been some severe injuries, but no deaths at all. Oh, and I got word that Lisa and Bert made it back. They're at the hospital. Lisa's feet were slightly injured but she is expected to recover without any serious damage. If you want I can have space cleared on a truck for you to go see her."

George's heart skipped a beat as he heard the news that his daughter was back from the dead. His first instinct was to go to her but then he looked around at the still large crowd. Even with the injured being taken away there were hundreds crowded into the makeshift shelter. "No, I'm needed here. There are wounded who need the space more than I do."

"Okay, take care of them. You're in charge big brother."

###

That night the town had finally gotten itself organized. The hungry townspeople and tourists were getting rationed food and water but there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel that was not a freight train. The provincial authorities were now finally aware of the extent of the damage and help was being mobilized to relieve the beleaguered town and remove the most critically injured. It would still be several days before all the tourists could be evacuated, but with supplies coming in at least they would be able to eat.

Over the course of the next several days townspeople were allowed to return to their homes, at least for those who still had homes to go to, in order to clear space in shelters for the trapped tourists. Bentley's family took in Annie's family until enough tourists had left, as space was cleared for them in a local hotel. Annie's parents took Lisa's room while she recovered in the hospital and Annie and her sister got Bentley's room. For his part, Bentley was consigned to live with his aunt and uncle much to his and Annie's displeasure, and to Annie's father's relief.

After a week's time had gone by the last of the trapped tourists had left the Evergreen Forest. The townspeople had done much to clean up in the aftermath of the eruption. Temporary bridges were put in place and construction was already beginning and a bonus was to be paid for everyday ahead of schedule the construction company finished the work.

Over the course of the winter the citizens of the Evergreen Forest rebuilt their damaged town, homes, businesses and lives. The rebuilding was at best haphazard and it was the townspeople who had put in the sweat equity because their government was too busy trying to put its best face forward and deflect the blame for the disaster.

Annie's family had moved back into their own house, after it had been rebuilt, and Bentley got his room back. He also found himself over at Annie's new house more often than not much to her father's displeasure.

Lisa went through multiple skin grafts and weeks of physical therapy. Even so she was back for Evergreen University's basketball season. Though the team did not win a championship, the town could take inspiration from their plucky point guard who overcame adversity and powered her team to almost not losing every game.

That spring the town even received an influx of new residents for the first time in a long time. Wendo and Toof, the weasel and beaver couple, and their twins had finally decided to make a permanent home and chose the Evergreen Forest as the place to do so. They were just the beginning of a new flood of residents into the Evergreen Forest. The town would never be a major metropolis but it would become a thriving small community.

Most of the trees that were blown down by Mount Vulcan's eruption were harvested and sold for timber. Cyril, who had made his initial fortune in the timber business, was in his element though he took no joy in the destruction of even part of the Evergreen Forest anymore.

The next spring the townspeople gathered for a meeting of their elected representatives. Now that their lives were back to normal they wanted answers. Finally, Mayor Baden-Baden called a meeting to get to the bottom of what went wrong. As the meeting progressed, it was obvious that no one took the volcano seriously until it was too late. The townspeople were upset by this dereliction of duty and wanted someone to blame.

Lady Baden-Baden gaveled the meeting to order, "Now is the time for the assigning of blame for everything that went wrong with our emergency plans. The chair assigns all blame to George W. Bushytail for failure to anticipate what we would have needed to do and have the required material to do it."

"What?" the shocked squirrel shouted.

"All those in favor say, aye." The entire town said aye, "Those opposed say, nay."

"Nay," George W. Bushytail said alone.

"The ayes have it."

"But how can you blame me? I didn't have..."

"Shush, the voters have spoken."

"But ..."

"Mr. Bushytail, please..."

"This is ridiculous, how am I to blame for what happened?"

"Can he be removed?"

Somewhere outside of town the sound of a kick could be heard followed by George W. Bushytail making a crash landing in the forest. He picked himself up, dusted himself off, and shook his fist at the town. "I hope you like the next guy," he muttered as he walked away.

The End

Epilogue

Ten years after the events of the Mount Vulcan eruption, many things had changed in the Evergreen Forest. The town, which had been shrinking in population for years up to that point, was in danger of dying out and becoming a ghost town, nothing more than a playground for the wealthy. In the aftermath of the eruption most thought that it would finish the town off, but they were wrong.

The first order of business was to vote out the town's council, who despite their best efforts to put all the blame on George W. Bushytail; could not hide their incompetence forever. In the next election, the mayor and council were voted out entirely and replaced with new people. There was even an attempt made to get Bert to run for mayor again though he declined believing himself to be not cut out for politics. George Raccoon on the other hand did decide to run for mayor. His heroism at the fairgrounds was well known and he crushed Cyril who decided to run again and for the third time lost.

Under George Raccoon's effective but low-key leadership the town prospered. The small local university took the initiative to become a center for geological studies even if Cyril and Cedric had no intention of ever drilling their way into a live volcano again. Both the two main roads and the local railroad bridge were reconstructed within a year's time.

The parts of the forest that were private property where the trees were flattened by the volcano were effectively turned into bulk timber. After that was cleared, the locals all pitched in to help with replanting the forest in most of those areas as well. New industries took root, especially tourism. A number of ski lodges had sprung up and more than a few catered to year round tourism, with the numerous hot springs that existed before and after the eruption.

The volcano itself was now off limits completely. The Federal government designated it a wilderness and closed it to all except permitted access. Even so the locals who had taken up their old habits on the new Mount Vulcan ignored the ban.

Including Bentley and Annie Raccoon. Bentley was in his final year of a graduate program in computer programming and Annie had completed her undergraduate degree in education and had taken a job in the Evergreen Forest's Elementary school which by now had expanded beyond its original one room schoolhouse building though that building was kept for nostalgia's sake.

"What do you think?" the grown up Annie asked Bentley as she posed at the edge of the hot spring he was soaking in.

"That it is cold out?" Bentley answered his question with a question of his own and a smile.

"Smartass," she smiled back at him as she slipped into the spring herself.

Bentley watched as Annie glided up to him and came to rest beside him nuzzling her nose against his cheek ruff. He placed his arm around her shoulders and ran his fingers through her soft fur.

"Have you thought about what you are going to do after you graduate?" Annie broke the silence.

Bentley sighed, he was getting this question a lot more now that he was married and his wife was a local teacher. "I don't know. The Evergreen Forest isn't exactly the hot spot for computer programming but I could telecommute. Of course from time to time I would have to travel for business purposes. Do you think you can handle me being out of sight for so long? You know how women can't resist my, charms." Bentley flashed his wife a mischievous grin. He had ample opportunities to cheat during his years in college, and anthro raccoons were often stereotyped as promiscuous like their feral cousins, but had remained steadfastly loyal to Annie.

Annie laughed at his remark, "You know, I really hate you."

"I hate you too." They rubbed their noses together before coming in closer for a full kiss. As they kissed Bentley was almost certain he could feel the water becoming warmer.

The End

Author's Note: Whew, it took long enough for this chapter, not to mention the whole story, to get done. I want to say thank you to everyone who has read and especially reviewed over the course of over a year. And I want to extend a special thank you to KobeBeef for beta reading the final chapter. It really needed another pair of eyes before publishing.


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